MovieChat Forums > Little Monsters (1989) Discussion > Remake? Should I dare propose it?

Remake? Should I dare propose it?

posted 16 years ago by mach_10
10 replies | jump to latest

Now, I'm sure there will be some die-hard fans of this film who hate me for bringing this up, and it will invoke all the usual counter-arguments (this film is perfect as it is, a remake would ruin it ect.) Most of the time, I would agree with all this. But... If any film ever needed remaking, it is this film. It had one of the best sceenplays I've ever seen, and the story was just about perfect for both adults and kids (if maybe leaning on the adult side a little) with the mischievous kid meeting his match in mischievous monsters, and Fred Savage was one of the best child actors of the time. But...

It would be brilliant to see this timeless fable updated from its 1980s obscurity to mega-big-bucks 21st century blockbuster. I do love this film, but let's be honest, it clearly didn't have a big budget. Most of all, the underground world was quite tacky - imagine it redone in flawless modern CGI, with perhaps the monsters done by Peter Jackson of Lord of The Rings fame... imagine Maurice as a photo-realistic Gollum-like creature. Or Guillermo Del Toro of Pans Labyrinth directing? Hell yeah. I'd be booking a front row seat at the premiere, that's for sure.

The only problem I can see with this, is that there seems to be a serious lack of decent child actors today, as compared to the 1980s, which seemed to have an abundance of them. Who could fill Fred Savage's shoes if there were a remake? Or the monster's, for that matter? Will Ferrell for Maurice? Haha.

Thoughts?

[–] xgreenlungsx 16 years ago

i just thought about this movie today for some reason lol, and yeah i used to love this movie, would rent it all the time when i was younger..

But yeah i can see what your saying about a remake though, i just don't see a remake turning out very well. And for casting the monster, they might as well just case Howie again, he's still alive and did a great job i thought in the first one.. i didn't know it was him till i saw his name on the credits on here. But just with how a lot of new remakes are turning out like willy wonka for example.. even with johnny depp it was horrible lol.

" I intend to live forever......So far, so good."

[–] mach_10 16 years ago

Agreed, the willy wonka remake was terrible. However, remakes can work.

King Kong, for example.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] koeago 16 years ago

they did remake it... the film was called monsters inc.

[–] mach_10 16 years ago

I wouldn't say Monsters Inc was a remake of Little Monsters, I wouldn't even consider it a spiritual sequel, never mind a remake... sure, there were some similarities in plot, in that they both include monsters living in a seperate reality coming through to our own world at night, and scaring children for a living. However, it really is a superficial similarity. It's like comparing Star Wars to Star Trek because they both include aliens and interstellar flight; they are in fact very different. For one thing, Monsters Inc has a bright and fluffy family theme, and is kids-friendly, wheras Little Monsters was also a family film yet had much, much darker themes, potentially frightening scenes, and a lot of adult-orientated gags. Fundamental difference. Perhaps an even bigger difference is he fact that Monsters Inc was told from the point of its cutesy protagonist monsters right from the beginning, wheras Little Monsters was told from the point of a boy who slowly discovered this mysterious other world, and the (much more disgusting and monster-like) monsters were merely supporting characters. Not to mention that Monsters Inc was animated whilst Little Monsters was live-action and utlilized real actors, prosthetics and make-up, very well i thought.

[–] VanHalen1417 13 years ago

i'm a diehard fan of the original and would love a remake.

because i'd get a blu ray of the original.

[–] Tigris180 13 years ago

It'd be interesting if they made the remake more closely to the original script for the movie. I'd so love to see that movie.

[–] Occult_Detective 12 years ago

The original script was very interesting. But instead of a remake, why not go a little deeper even?

Make a long awaited sequel, where Brian has a kid of his own, now, who like him, has no friends until he meets a monster.

You can retain all the unused, good elements of the original script. It would practically write itself.

Would have to meet a new monster though, i doubt we'd even get Mandel back for a cameo since he is a germaphobe now, and likely wouldn't go near costumes and make-up like that again.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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