Remaking Adventures in Babysitting is a bit of an odd choice if you ask me. Not because it's a bad movie, I enjoyed it when I watched it but rather Disney is taking a 1987 Touchstone teen comedy and making it into a Disney Channel Original Movie that was rated TV-G.
Okay, I gotta get this outta my system right now but it bugged me that Disney Channel promoted this as their 100th original movie when this is a remake. I don't know something about that felt iffy. Anyways, let's look at What's the Same, What's Different and Is This a Good Remake? Oh before we move onto the review, the most famous line from the original was cut.
What's The Same
The core idea of the remake is the same as the original, babysitter(s) gets lost in a big city and a lot of mishaps happen and they do come across thieves that want to hurt them because of something the kids possess. There are nods to the Elizabeth Shue original such as the babysitter(s) and kids agreeing that if the parents ask, they went out for ice cream. There are a lot of nods and updates such as Shue in the original ended up in a Blues club, this time, the babysitter(s) end up partaking in a rap battle.
Which is fun. If you've watched the original, you know that one has an edge that you really only get in 80s comedies. Not to say that other decades can't pull off that edge but the edge that I'm talking about is specific to the 80s.
What's Different
Well, there is the obvious of this being a child-friendly movie than the original. But there are other things, you may have noticed that when I was talking about the babysitter, I did this (s). That's because there are two babysitters. Jenny and Lola, however, one of them is not an actual babysitter, Lola, and only took the job because she needs the money to pay off a parking ticket. Oh, and they start out as something of rivals as they're both up for a photography internship that Jenny gives up by the end of the movie so that Lola can have it.
Whereas Jenny is an uptight smartypants that needs to learn to loosen up. They both have love interests, Jenny's is some guy named Zack and Lola's is the cop (...yeah) that gave her the parking ticket. Now, as there are two babysitters there are also now two sets of kids. But honestly, adding more kids made them more forgettable. There's one that's into cooking, there's one that is a girly girl that is like Lola Loud. And then you have the tomboy that's into roller derby instead of Thor. So, we are robbed of something as awesome as this from the original.
Which could've been rectified as this was made well after Disney bought Marvel but alas, it was not to be.
Is This A Good Remake?
I was not looking forward to watching this one going in as this felt like the strangest movie to remake. No question, the original is better and more fun for people that grew up with it or saw it first but this is a decent remake. It pays homage to the original and stays true to the story while adding some new ideas that don't always land but they try. Sure, we went from an 80s teen comedy to a kids movie but it's not the worst downgrade. Join me next time as I look at what is perhaps the worst remake I'll be looking at during this event.
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