Where Has All the Creativity Gone?

I was driving down I-95 last Sunday morning (through the Chester section to be exact) when a billboard caught my eye. The billboard was advertising the summer release of The Karate Kid. Upon seeing this I muttered to myself, "Where has all the creativity gone?"

I recently saw A Nightmare on Elm St., and in recent years I've seen other remakes such as Fun with Dick and Jane, and King Kong. By no means am I bashing the modern infatuation with the past— I enjoyed these movies quite a bit—but does anybody else find it quite alarming how frequent remakes are becoming? I'm not going to rattle off a list of remakes, but it's a lot. Many remakes are good, and some are better than the originals. Prime examples: A Nightmare on Elm St. was twice as good as the original due to obviously better special effects. The nightmare scenes were far superior to the original nightmare scenes. Same goes for The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Some movies are to remain untouched, and when they're touched and copied, it's a disaster. Prime examples: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes, Jessica Biel may be fun to look at, but much like 7th Heaven, her movies are not fun to watch. This one wasn't fun either. Two other remakes that should never have happened are Willy Wonka and Alice in Wonderland. How many times are Tim Burton and Johnny Depp going to get together and plot to destroy the childhoods of millions of American adults?

In the end, it's always nice to see a well done remake, but heartbreaking to see a poorly done classic. It is for this reason that the creativity of scriptwriters and directors needs to be revived, both for their good and ours. If we see a bad remake, everybody leaves the theater feeling betrayed and making comparisons. If we see a bad original, everybody leaves the theater never to talk about it again. Which sounds better?