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Here’s some movie news I didn’t really see coming (courtesy of FirstShowing.net, thanks guys!). Apparently the Weinstein Company has bought the rights to the Short Circuit franchise and is planning a remake of the original movie. As a bonus, S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, the original creators, are back on board. All told, this is not a terrible formula for a remake (especially compared to other remakes that have come out of Hollywood recently). It’s actually kind of a comfort to know that the guys who started it are on board; who better to protect an image than the people who made it?

But. There has to be a “but.” See, Short Circuit is one of my personal, all time, favorite 80s movies. It’s up there with Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Wargames, Gremlins, and some others. While a modern Johnny #5 is a neat idea, I’m not sure that it will work. 80s movies in this genre, at least ones not directed by James Cameron and Steven Spielberg, just have an interesting 1980’s campy patina to them. That’s the best way I can describe it I think. In an effort to make a good, high quality film on a relatively low (by today’s standards) budget, movies like this found their own kind of quality. Think about Innerspace, or Batteries Not Included, for instance. They made by the best they could, and without the ability for heavy CG reinforcement, they got a movie that had an almost “believable” feel to it. This was partly because when it came to things like the robot, they really scrounged up parts and made a damn robot. And as far as robots go, they don’t get much cooler than Johnny 5 was. I’d go so far as to say it was the most “emotional” and best “acting” robot Hollywood has ever seen (sorry Terminator).

The original film is about a military robot called Number 5 that runs away from the government after it’s struck by lightning and develops a conscience and a personality. With the help of a young woman, Number 5 tries to evade capture and convince his creator that he has truly become alive. As Peter at SlashFilm points out, Bob Weinstein probably noticed all of the discussion comparing Wall-E and Johnny 5 and thought that they could capitalize on the renewed interest. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to help turn this into anything good.

You know, one of the reasons that this remake is a little scary is that movies of this kind simply aren’t made anymore. This quasi-fantasy family film genre. It’s all about Narnia, or Harry Potter, or other high value, CG saturated, gimmick films. There is no “simple” anymore, which is where movies like Short Circuit would fall. And updating it would more than likely destroy what makes it great. You can’t replicate what made movies of that era good, it was simply a function of the environment, time, and technology. One of the tenets of film remaking is that you don’t just replicate it, you have to improve it. But I’m not convinced you can improve it. Like I said, a modernized Johnny 5 is a cool thought, it’s just that in bringing everything else up to speed you will lose everything that made it classic.

Be careful boys. This may not be some super beloved franchise, or one that tops millions of people’s top 10 lists, but I love it. And in the end, that’s all that matters, right?