Rebooting a movie or TV series can sometimes be a good thing; such is the case of the “Heroes” reboot. Mostly, though, reboots like “Annie” and “The Amazing Spiderman” are just not needed.
It’s obvious that the producers of some films and television shows are just trying to bring back an old production that had been wildly popular, just so they can rake in more cash. Some of these “reboots” are just plain unnecessary, though. Take, for example, the 2014 reboot of “Annie” (1982); the entire country, grew up watching the 1982 version of that film, starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, Carroll Burnet and Ann Reinking, and enjoyed it immensely. Despite the fact that it had received mixed reviews at the time of its release, it still can be considered a classic and a great family friendly film to show children. Of course it doesn’t really matter to younger kids if a film is rebooted, they probably haven’t even seen the older version of the film. It just feels odd to think of Annie as anyone but a freckle faced red head, who desperately needs to run a brush through her hair. Though I’m sure that Jamie Foxx and Quvezhane Wallis did a great job; I won’t be able to see it without thinking of the older version. An additional film reboot that also bugged me (in-fact bugged me even more) was the reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.
The first Spider-Man film series, at least in the 21st century, was released all the way back in 2002 with Tobey Maguire portraying the main protagonist. This version of the popular Marvel Comics character was, in my opinion, the best version. Of course, over time a film series runs out of steam, and is typically put to bed, but no. They rebooted the whole franchise five years after the original three films. The fact that they rebooted this series doesn’t necessarily bother me as much as the fact that the revamped version is basically a copy of the 2002 version, with a different villain. This most recent reboot has recently gotten canceled itself and a new version is in the works. Despite my obvious dislike for reboots, there is one case in which I actually look forward to revamping an old idea.
Such is the case in the TV series previously known as “Heroes,” a show surrounding humans with supernatural abilities. The first season of the original series was great, but unfortunately due to the writer’s strike, the shows subsequent seasons were poorly formed and generally uninteresting. In this case, when a genuinely interesting premise failed to realize its full potential, it seems like a great idea to reboot; especially after the disaster that was the fourth season. This story needed to be given a second chance, and thankfully it got it in the reboot entitled “Heroes: Reborn.” Hopefully, this new version can exceed the great first season of the original series.
In general, though, if the original wasn’t broken, leave it alone!