The remake of 1984’s “Footloose” with updated revisions entertains with toe-tapping music. In a contemporary presentation paying homage to the original which is akin to watching a revitalized vintage film, some of the same songs and music are incorporated. Newcomer Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough should satisfy ”Footloose” fans as they kick up their heels and step into the dancing shoes of eighties’ Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer to make breezy music together. Story-wise, the same inane plot is more outdated today. Orphaned, embittered, teen Ren McCormack (Wormald) goes to live with his aunt (Kim Dickens) and uncle (Ray McKinnon) in a small southern town which has a ban on boisterous music and dancing when local teens, including the minister’s son died in auto accidents. The newly passed law doesn’t sit well with Ren who loves to trip the light fantastic, and meeting the glum Reverend Shaw Moore’s (a miscast Dennis Quaid) independent-minded daughter Ariel (Hough) lifts his spirits, but her puritanical minister-father disapproves of the friendship as much as he frowns on her seeing rowdy Chuck Cranston (Patrick John Flueger) who is jealous of the newcomer rival for Ariel’s affections.
Director-co-screenwriter Craig Brewer’s lively “Footloose” is an energetic revisit back in time.
Likable Kenny Wormald is no Kevin Bacon yet he carries off the role, and his acrobatics are an added attraction. Predictably, Ren’s persuasive ways helps reverse the ordinance banning loud music and dance, and his arrival affects the townsfolk to change the atmospheric mood to make it a footloose and fancy free town.
