★ 6 / 10
Reviewing a remake, one can't help but compare
Niko
Reviewing a remake, one can't help but compare it to the original film - in this case "Willard (1971)". While the overarching plot has been changed very…
Reviewing a remake, one can't help but compare it to the original film - in this case "Willard (1971)". While the overarching plot has been changed very little, the remake takes some creative liberties with parts of the story, some for the better and some for the worse.
The titular character Willard has been altered to a point where he is almost a caricature of his former self. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you want from this movie. It does however change the direction and gives the film a less serious and more comedic tone. I will say that the acting is pretty decent regardless.
The changes to the rats, Ben in particular, were pretty good. I enjoyed the fact that he had a bit more personality. He was also substantially larger than the others, giving him a more unique appearance.
I was however not a fan of the changes made to the ending and it felt much cheaper and less impactful than the 1971 version. The "moral" that the original had was nowhere to be found and it also did not tie in with the 1972 sequel "Ben", which I thought was a bit of a shame.
I also felt like Laura Harring's character was kind of wasted and had not enough screen time. Willard's whole family was missing from this film and so where unfortunately a lot of the deeper relationships between characters. The whole build-up with Willard taking his rats on "missions" was also limited to just two scenes that were not nearly as tense in the remake.
That said, Willard is not a bad movie by any means. You might very well enjoy this film, even if you're a fan of the original.
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★ 8 / 10
The filmmakers might be reluctant to call it
Jacob B
The filmmakers might be reluctant to call it such and some smartasses are going to pull out their "the book came first" card but at the end of the day, I'm…
The filmmakers might be reluctant to call it such and some smartasses are going to pull out their "the book came first" card but at the end of the day, I'm still going to call the 2003 Willard a remake because that's what it is at its core. And unlike some other horror remakes, I found this to be a worthwhile improvement since I didn't like the 1971 film to begin with. The bleaker atmosphere, more psychological approach and having Ben be a more openly antagonistic rat from the get-go were clearly changes for the better and having a duo who had much more experience in the horror genre compared to the original film's director helped tremendously. While some will call this film slow-paced...hmm, I don't know. Have you seen the original? This film has much better pacing and, even setting the 1971 film aside, you have to understand that this type of horror moves at a different pace than the more popcorn-friendly thrills of Final Destination. I felt more of a sense of dread and concern here than I did with the original. I will admit the film has some flaws such as the scene with the cat*, while well-directed, turning into a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment thanks to the titular character learning about her fate being banished to the land of deleted scenes, one aspect of the theatrical ending coming off as contrived due to test audiences and it feeling obvious at times that this film was made with an R-rating in mind. And yet, Willard 2003 was still a compelling watch thanks to Crispin Glover's terrific performance, Shirley Walker's score, R. Lee Ermey's "love to hate" character, a really good opening credits sequence and good effects for the rats where, the one bit aside which seems like it's there for a cool trailer shot, I genuinely couldn't tell when the rats were real, animatronics or CGI. As for those aforementioned flaws, I found them to be not entirely unnoticeable but fairly forgivable. This is NOT the worst example of a toned-down-to-PG-13 film out there, though why New Line Cinema was trying to appeal to a demographic who was unlikely to care about the dad from Back to the Future is anybody's guess, other than apparently wanting to cash in on The Ring's success. PG-13 Lee Ermey's hammy insults are still quite memorable and makes the one F-bomb that did make it into the final film count all the more and the focus on psychological horror over bloodbaths make for more of a "nothing is scarier" vibe...unless you watch the deleted scenes where you do get to see the poor cat's corpse after the rats are done with her. Being X-Files veterans meant that Glen Morgan and James Wong at least had experience making PG-13 horror. And despite my earlier gripe with one bit of the ending not jiving with the rest of the scene, I do prefer the theatrical one over the one that's more faithful to the original. An original which, need I remind you, I did not like. And not just because it'll appease cat lovers but also because it offers something different from the original that doesn't have enough of a fanbase to warrant an "if it ain't broke" excuse but also because it's not as if Willard gets off scot-free for his actions. A horror-drama that does what most remakes wish they could do: improve upon the problems of the original and justify its existence.
P.S. Crispin Glover directed his own music video where he performs a cover of the Michael Jackson song "Ben". Both the singing and the video are enjoyable and you should find a chance to watch it on YouTube, if you have the time.
*A cat named Scully who is a ginger, which can be used as a synonym for a redhead, in a film from the duo who worked on The X-Files and were responsible for turning Final Destination from an unproduced episode of that show into an original IP? I don't know about you but that seems kinda sus, bro
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★ 9 / 10
La segunda adaptación de Ratman's Notebooks no solo
Elvis D
La segunda adaptación de Ratman's Notebooks no solo vuelve a narrar la historia de Willard, sino que rinde homenaje a la película original y a una parte de su…
La segunda adaptación de Ratman's Notebooks no solo vuelve a narrar la historia de Willard, sino que rinde homenaje a la película original y a una parte de su secuela. Hay unos cambios creativos y no hay tantos personajes como en la primera adaptación, pero esta película tiene la atmosfera intrigante y tensa que caracteriza a la novela. El excéntrico Crispin Glover brinda una excelente actuación como Willard y la película profundiza bastante en su psicología. Se puede sentir bastante la frustración y el dolor que él siente al tener una vida miserable y solo se siente aliviado con la compañía de Sócrates. Además, la película también muestra como toda esa frustración hace que Willard empiece a enloquecer y a ser dominado por la ira. A diferencia de la primera adaptación que le dio un buen desarrollo a Willard como personaje, aquí hay una mejor profundización y exploran los sentimientos de Willard. Su jefe Martin es mucho más desagradable en esta película que en el clásico original y eso hace uno se ponga del lado de Willard al ver como lo maltrata constantemente. Al igual que en las películas anteriores, hay un buen uso de ratas entrenadas con uso de efectos especiales en el momento adecuado. Mientras Sócrates es igual a su contraparte original, Ben es el que más antagonismo. En las películas anteriores, Ben no era un villano exactamente. Aquí decidieron que Ben fuera más antagónico por como desafía a Willard y lo hace sentir incómodo. En las películas anteriores Ben no desafiaba tanto a Willard y actuaba como las demás ratas. En esta película, Ben se muestra desafiante y Willard comete el error de subestimarlo demasiado. En la novela, lo que motiva a Ben son los celos que siente debido a que Willard le tiene más cariño a Sócrates, en esta película supieron plasmar eso bastante bien. La película no podía estar completa sin haber incluido la canción de Ben. Aunque la segunda película no es un clásico muy memorable, dejo buenos momentos como la amistad entre Ben y Danny y la canción de Ben interpretada por Michael Jackson. Al ser uno de los primeros éxitos de Jackson, merecía ser utilizada en esta película nuevamente. Crispin Glover incluso tuvo el honor de interpretar una nueva versión de la canción. La banda sonora de Shirley Walker también tiene su mérito por aportar en los momentos de tensión y humor. Aunque el final no es como el de la película original, es bastante acertado. La novela original tiene un final ambiguo en el que no se sabe si Willard muere o sobrevive, así que tanto esta película como la de 1971 hacen bien en usar las dos posibilidades. Willard (2003) es tanto una de las mejores películas de los años 2000 como la mejor de la saga de Willard y eso es gracias a la actuación de Crispin Glover que termina robándose toda la película. Mi calificación final para esta película es un 9/10.
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