Footloose

Directed by Craig Brewer

(PG-13)

**

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When remaking a popular film that was little more than “a Cheez Whiz sandwich,” it’s wise to have modest ambitions, said Stephen Whitty in the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger. This reboot of a 1984 Kevin Bacon flick follows that advice: Again, a rebellious teenager arrives in a small town that has banned dancing and eventually gets everyone to shake their moneymakers. The biggest difference: The ban this time is explained by an earlier teen tragedy. But a premise that was “hilariously anachronistic” in the ’80s feels doubly absurd today, no matter the backstory, said Nathan Rabin in the A.V. Club. Director Craig Brewer reaches for a contemporary feel by amping up the sexuality, but that “renders the forces of repression all the more cartoonish.” New leads Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough at least ensure that the dancing is improved, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. In fact, it almost doesn’t matter that they’re not the actors that Bacon and Lori Singer were. “As long as daughters pout when fathers proclaim, ‘I don’t want to see you with that boy,’ Footloose will endure.” And probably be remade.