[merylsilverburg]

I know it may seem like from my earlier posts that I came off as one of those people who go around shouting "Rip offs! Travesty! Argggh!" but trust me, I do understand what you're saying and I do agree with you (that was rather shameful on Leone's part though for not giving Kurosawa credit...but wasn't there a legal case that settled it?).

It's not like I don't judge the remake as a whole: if I happen to see the original and the remake, I will assess for each why I like or do not like it. And as I've said before, if the remake is good well then it's good! But if I happen to disagree with the remake then I can't say I like it...but that doesn't mean I won't give it merit as a film alone (but only if it's good on its own). I can give a good example: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I was a bit irritated when I heard about the remake (and the fact that just because it has Depp, all these silly people will invariably say it's great and can do no wrong ). But I went to see it and it was actually pretty good. I like Burton's addition of Wonka's childhood, Wonka's meeting of the Oompas Loompas, the extremely colorful look of the factory, and other things. As a film alone, hey yes, I'll watch it and I do; because the film has its own unique personality to it. But still, I prefer the original (which actually had a kid who could, um, act? ). And when I compared the two films, the original still had more soul to it (despite it not being accurate to the book) and that's why I like it more. I hope I explained myself a bit more clearly now.