A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

EVERYBODY CUT WHAT? Both out of my own personal interest and as an anthropological experiment, yes, I saw Footloose last night. I've never seen the original (heresy, I know!), so I don't have that baggage, but a few thoughts:

• From a casting perspective, they clearly cast dancers, with acting ability as a secondary concern. Both of the young leads can dance, but the acting, particularly from Kenny Wormald, is much more scattered. He's not helped by the fact that (at least in this remake) Ren is an underwritten character, with motivations that are, at best, hazy. Wisely, rather than letting them verbally flirt, the screenplay and director have them dance it, and Hough in particular shines when she gets to dance.
  
• The one apparent big change in the film from the original is that while it opens with the "dancing feet" sequence from the original film (with updated footwear/wardrobe), rather than cutting from there to Ren's arrival in town, those feet are the dancing feet of Bomond's seniors three years prior to the events of the film--we see the dance, its consequences, and the town council vote on the various ordinances, including the anti-dancing one. This equalizes the film a little bit, making the Reverend a little less of a one-dimensional villain, which is also aided by Dennis Quaid's performance in the role, which is softer and less rage-fueled than I expect Lithgow's was.
  
• I haven't seen a movie with this many endings since Return of the King. We have the council meeting where Ren delivers his impassioned speech, we have the Reverend's change of heart, we have a lengthy setup/cleanup for the dance, we have a tender scene between Hough and Quaid as she leaves for the dance, a fistfight, and a big dance sequence. (Inexplicably, we don't get Quaid dancing at the end, which was a missed opportunity for an emotional moment.)
• There's a lot of plot mechanics that don't seem to make much sense--Ariel apparently doesn't have a car and must rely on her skeezy boyfriend to get her from place to place, but is able to show up at random locations to stalk Ren to further the plot, that boyfriend appears and disappears as a plot device as needed, and the timeline is a complete mess.
  

All that said, I quite enjoyed myself, and can certainly see how this story could easily become a touchstone for folks--the updated music (several major songs from the original have been re-recorded by new artists, and there are a few new songs) and dancing (in particular, Ariel's been sexed up for the remake, and I expect to a certain demographic, jean shorts and red cowboy boots may be their "Princess Leia in a gold bikini" moment) certainly make it fresh for a new generation.