Footloose (2011) - 7 stars out of 10

Footloose (2011) - 7 stars out of 10

While the 2011 remake of “Footloose” is better than the original, it still pales in comparison to the 1999 stage musical.  With so many great songs, it is a waste to have them playing on the radio instead of being sung by the characters.  I know that dance movies are a “thing” but sometimes, dance sequences don’t smoothly fit into a dramatic storyline.  The whole angry gymnastics/dancing scene was pretty awkward.  If this was a musical (like it’s supposed to be), it would have been awesome but it just didn’t have a place in this version.  That being said, the writers did a great way of adapting the 1980’s story to work in modern times.  I like how they worked in the original recording of “Let’s Hear It For The Boy.”  I don’t like how they massacred “Holding Out For A Hero.”  Again, I would have loved it if they just brought the Broadway show to the big screen.  The film is very well cast.  Dennis Quaid was a great choice for Reverend Moore.  While he didn’t quite capture the internal conflict that John Lithgow portrayed in the original film, I still really enjoyed his performance.  Julianne Hough brought a great attitude to Ariel, Kenny Wormald had the right look and dance ability for Ren, Miles Teller made Willard loveable and a memorable small role, Ziah Colon was very cute as Rusty, and even Andie MacDowell (from “Groundhog Day”) lit up the screen in the small role of Ariel’s mother.  And yes, I even liked the country version of “Footloose” during the final dance scene - it was very appropriate.  While I will always feel that this remake could have been so much better as a musical, it is highly entertaining and worth watching, even though the dance montages aren’t always a good fit.