20 Year Cycle

When movies are re-made, there seems to a magic number of '20'...as in 20 years since the original was released. It's not a hard-and-fast rule ... more like a rule of thumb. We saw this with "Transformers" which was originally released in 1986. Just for fun, you should rent the original just for the opening line in the movie: "It is the year 2005..." A few years ago, before the re-make was released, we watched the original. Needless to say, it was amusing to hear the opening line considering we have actually not yet been overtaken by robots. (Click on the movie posters for the trailer).

I found the 2007 re-make to be slightly entertaining. They went a little overboard on the robot dive-roll manuevers in the movie.
Lately we've been seeing trailers for the new live-action G.I. Joe movie (yawn). I really don't have a desire to see this in the theaters, and consider it barely rentable based on the trailer alone. It doesn't seem to have any resemblance to the original series.
The original from 1987 looks much more amusing! I'm saw I watched it as a youth, and will add it to my Netflix queue to refresh my memory. UPDATE: this movie is not available on Netflix!
Speaking of GI Joe, do you remember the 'public service announcements' at the end of each episode. The only one that I can remember is the one where we are warned not to touch downed power lines. And knowing is half the battle! Here's where to watch 27 original public service announcements from GI Joe.

Next up in the category of "20-year Remakes" is Karate Kid. The 1984 original is a classic flick and created one of the most recognizable pop culture icons of the decade in Daniel-sen. Not to mention all of the quotable lines, memorable scenes (shower curtain anyone?), signature moves (crane kick... hi-yah!) and a musical tribute with the song "Sweep the Leg" by the No More Kings. See if you can count all the cameos (I counted 5).


Needless to say I was a little disappointed to hear that a remake was in the works. Kung Fu Kid, starring Jackie Chan as Mr. Miyagi and Jaden Smith in the lead role. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2010.

Have any 20-year remakes turned out better than the original?