Une promesse au nom de notre amitié

9/10 times, remakes of iconic, heart-warming masterpieces should never be made - let alone attempted. This movie is no exemption to that.

Aside from the boring, sleep-inducing acting and lack of narrative, this "remake" fails to capture the very essence that was Beaches. Without Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey dominating the screen with their chemistry that can be felt in even the youngest of hearts who weren't even alive in the 80s, this failed attempt to rekindle a classic should be a hard pass for anyone with any ounce of respect for the original.

Please stop trying to recapture the classics. It never works.

Bette Midler is a tough act to follow. One must almost go for a completely different interpretation. That wasn't done here. Idina Menzel has the chops as a singer, of course, but beyond that she's no Bette Midler. If she was trying for a different interpretation, it didn't work. In fact, it couldn't have worked. Over 30 minutes were chopped out of the running time as compared to the original. It is extra time that was desperately needed. The character development, the intricacies of the interactions, many of the nuances, all suffered just to get plot points in and leave room for commercials. Nia Long has turned in some brilliant portrayals in other projects. Here, she was mostly underused. Hillary has the more subtle character; it has to be played to CC without being secondary. Nia wasn't given enough screen time to do this. Updating the story didn't help either. There was a unique cachet about pre-gambling Atlantic City in its heyday, along with Broadway in its prime. The present day setting for this version was too bland. (Nuns in sitcoms just don't cut it. Respectable female New York lawyers are old school. The boardwalk in AC has very little charm any more.) There really wasn't any useful reason to update the story anyway, other than to point up that Beaches 2017 isn't Beaches 1988. It certainly isn't.

When a movie is remade, you have to expect everyone to make a comparison. In that regard, this new version is just flat. It doesn't allow the viewer the chance to gain any depth or get drawn into the movie. You can just feel the rush of this movie trying to cram it all in to fit the allotted commercial insertions. Such a shame. The opening scenes with the two young girls are poorly acted. I almost stopped watching, but the adults pulled it off. Nia Long gives an exceptional performance. But again, this entire movie is so rushed, the great performance is overshadowed by the hasty flow. The singing by Menzel is actually good, which is another positive. But overall, the original is a major standout compared to this. TV movie remake failed in this case, unfortunately. You can't tell this incredible story in less than 90 minutes. And trying to do so is why it fell way short.

This should never have been remade! IdIna can sing but she can't act, unless it's Disney. Perhaps trying to remake Bette Midler movies is not a good idea.

I heard somewhere that this was being remade, and I heard Idina would be in a starring role, so I thought, hmm OK, she can sort of act, and she can certainly sing.... she's no Bette Midler obviously but perhaps it might be better than the Ghostbusters disaster....

So some weeks later I find this online, and think ah OK, lets see how this worked out.

I firstly noticed it appeared to be about half an hour less than the original - kind of strange.

What it appears happened is that all the talent, skill and entertainment were taken out, who knew you could measure these things in time.

From the outset it's just bad, the opening cliché scene, with the same dialogue but delivered with all the care of an out of control rally driver, well it just made me cringe.

And from there is appears to be going downhill rapidly, I'm about 20 mins in now, and I can safely say other than Idina singing, this BAD REMAKE has no redeeming qualities at all.

I would say this is another example of an attempt to 'bring it to a new audience' when the original if it got a 20th or 30th anniversary release update thing would have been far more successful, and far better than this complete load of nonsense.

I can find no redemption in this film other than Idina singing, and I literally mean the singing, her acting is just as bad as it was in Glee *sigh*

I don't imagine it is likely I will see this through to the end without being compelled to scratch my eyes out and ram cotton buds in my ears......

Please Hollywodd, stop raping the classics for the sake of a quick bit of gratification - this is about as successful as premature ejaculation.