Well, I suppose if a movie had to be remade, Footloose is as good a candidate as any. After viewing the trailer for Craig Brewer’s (Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan), I can report it is as cheese-tastic as the original and I think that’s just what it needed to be.

No one is going to go see Footloose or even watch the old version, expecting high-art. What they will get is a high concept version of “Hey kids! Let’s put on a show!” that dates back at least as far as Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Babes in Arms.  The screenplay is by Dean Pitchford, who wrote the original so it’s possible it’s just tweaked here and there. I would have liked to have gotten a better sense of the soundtrack, but the dance sequences look like they might have some energy and really, isn’t that the whole point of this exercise?

The new Ren is played by Kenny Wormald, a dancer whose Boston accent comes through loud and clear (so I hope that’s where he’s supposed to have dropped in from), and the new Ariel is played by “Dancing with the Stars” (and Ryan Seacrest’s) own Julianne Hough. I got the biggest kick out of Dennis Quaid. It makes me feel old to see him playing “the Dad” in anything, let alone taking over for John Lithgow (for solace I pop in The Big Easy and all is right with the world again), but it looked to me like he was having a difficult time keeping a straight face. We’ll see.

The rest of the cast includes Andie MacDowell and Kim Dickens along with a lot of fresh faced young dancers. This version does have more diversity going for it, I’ll say that much. Iowa has come a long way in the last twenty five years.

Footloose opens October 14 in the UK, US and Canada.