Elisabeth Shue warned us years ago: ”Don’t f— with the babysitter.” Disney isn’t heeding her admonition. They’re remaking Adventures in Babysitting (pictured, right), the apparently beloved comedy-adventure starring Shue as a put-upon high-school senior whose boring night babysitting turns into a Dante-esque odyssey through blighted ’80s cityscapes. So who’s the new Shue? Raven-Symone (left), of That’s So Raven, a show I’ve never watched but always assumed was about Poe’s wacky Goth adolescence. (It’s not, apparently.)
This office, it appears, is a stronghold of Babysitting purists who don’t want a repeat of Love Don’t Cost a Thing, the (admittedly execrable) Nick Cannon remake of Can’t Buy Me Love. Types one staffer: ”oh, this is worse than a remake of the Seven Samurai. this is sick.” Another simply says, ”This must be stopped!”
There are contrarians, of course. ”I love how you’re outraged over the disrespect being shown to a movie that was directed by… Chris Columbus. My feeling is that we’re really grieving is the faded glory of our shared teenage crush on Elisabeth Shue. That lucky Macchio!” This respondent continues with an interesting hypothetical that goes to the heart of the ”race-reversed remake” question: ”If Shue and her charges flee into a black club and she’s gotta sing the blues to get out… where will Raven et al find themselves? Honkytonk?” My vote would be for a Blue Collar Comedy Tour concert. Or a Klan rally. Whatever’s funnier.
This Babysitting memory takes the cake, though: ”I saw ‘Adventures…’ during Free Video Friday Night at the Sloane House International YMCA in Manhattan with members of a Korean street gang who afterward went into the adjoining ballroom where a wedding reception was taking place and shot out the windows with pistols hidden in their socks, then put a bullet in the groom’s foot. True story.”
From there, the conversation degenerated into an anti-Giuliani lament about the lack of ”good Korean street gangs.”
Of course, everyone here is certifiable. You seem like sane folk, though. (Comparatively speaking.) Tell me: Is Adventures in Babysitting too sacred to remake?
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Leave the original alone!!! It’s too great to remake!!!
Leave it alone… you can’t remake this one.. what made it so good was the fact that it was done in the 80’s. If you re-make it now it will just be another urban movie with a hip hop soundtrack, ebonics, sexual innuendo, potty humor, some crumping and a video on MTV for Raven Symone. I guarantee aside from the title it won’t resemble the original at all..
This remakw will suck, why? Cause the first movie was very unassuming and wound up being a hit. In other words it didn’t seem like it was trying, but through the talents of Chris Columbus and Elisabeth Shue (Mmmmmm…..elisabeth Shue) the movie worked.
I can still remember how hard I laughed at the blues bar scene. “I’m the babysitter” Ba dum da dum.
Also they will have to hire Keith Coogan, as he was in the original and “Don’t tell Mom the babysitters Dead”, so obviously he must be in every mocie with the title babysitter. COnspiracy?
Too sacred to touch. I remember where I saw it, when I saw, with who I saw, and where I saw it. Went out the following day and bought the song. Have seen it so many times. The scene in the Blues Club, is one of the best seems EVER in that genre, how can they even begin to touch the sublimeness of the original work, Bradley Whitford as the jerk who stands her up, come on, no one, NO ONE can tackle that role.
TOO sacred to remake! I used to watch that movie over and over again. They will probably make it all cheesy and too teen-movie-ish. Wasn’t Elizabeth Shue sorta baby-sitting a couple teenagers in that movie? Raven seems too young to fill Shue’s.
Why redo a good thing? Remakes are NEVER as good as the original.
I’m not opposed to a remake, but think it’s far too soon for one. Maybe in ten years (I mean, what’s next? There’s already been rip-offs of “Indiana Jones,” “Big Chill,” “Big,” etc., are we ready for full-out remakes from the 80s?
I’m typically not very PC, but I did find the comment about a Klan Rally kind of disturbing. Is it just me?
Adventures in Babysitting & Can’t Buy Me Love are two of my MOST favorite movies of all time. In my youth I watched them with my brother OVER AND OVER AGAIN. We know all the lines and as adults still quote them to each other. To me, these remakes are complete sacrilege. You don’t f*ck with the Lords of Hell, you don’t F*ck with the Babysitter, and you certainly don’t F*ck with remakes of brilliant movies.
Not just you R.C., I also questioned that statement – that paragraph should have ended at concert.
One of my Fav movies of the 80s growing up, please dont mess with it.
I think you understate, Raven’s talent. You should see the show…is hillarious…me and my friend love it…and we are 28!
Ummm just because Raven is going to be in the remake doesn’t mean it’s going to be an Urban, potty, hip hop remake Mark!!! I love Adventures in Babysitting and I wish that writers would be creative and be original.
They should remake ‘Dont Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead’ instead, and leave this ‘Babysitter’ alone. Wankers. Raven is annoying and does not have the ability to fill Shues…er, shoes.
Dude, you are sooo going to slammed for that Klan Rally line…..
yeah, that Klan comment was inappropriate…but anyway…we are not talking about a classic along the lines of Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink. Let the kids have their version.
I just bought this DVD a couple of months ago. It’s one of my favorite movies.
They can remake it and put it on the Disney channel for the kids to watch and I can ignore.
Okay Scott, you know I luv yo’ stuff, but I gotta ask where the editing is in Popwatch. AHEM, Seven Samurai was remade in 1960 into a little movie you may have heard of called “the Maginificent Seven.”
How could one EW Staffer make such a dufus comment (weren’t ya’ll just bragging about being “world series of pop culture” winners just yesterday?), and how could another EW staffer also miss such an obvious pop culture hiccup?
Again I gotta ask, do you guys READ the magazine ya’ll write? Because I seem to recall some articles about Kurasawa in EW before.
As for the new “adventures in babysitting”, would they stick to Chicago? That city’s gone through quite the rebirth since the 1980’s. So long as they keep Thor as one of the main characters, it should be cool. Have you been using my clearasil again?
Are they going to remake Uncle Buck, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weekend at Bernies, The Goonies next?
I think there could be promise here. I really like Raven Symone. It would be fun if some of the original stars made cameos like Anthony Rapp, Elisabeth Shue, Keith Coogan and perhaps Thor.
Just like ET – I have always been so glad that there was never a sequel, a pre-quel or now…a remake! No..no..no. Some movies are just too original, too perfect, with that magic all comes together in one weird, cosmic kind of way. I will ignore it gladly. We know all the lines, we shout them out – “Brenda!” “…this town comes in one flavor, vanilla” “Kiss her!” “This was the greatest night of my life…so far”
This is so disturbing, it practically is ruining my day. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is perfect as is. I cannot see them bettering it in any way with a remake. It is not like a horror movie where you can update the special effects. No offense to Raven, but she cannot fill Elizabeth Shue’s shoes in this role. No way, no how. I cannot believe they are doing this. BAD MOVE DISNEY!
When did movies that aren’t that old need to be remade? I think the
original is great and should be left alone……and I don’t think anyone
needs to go all ape shizz over the Klan Rally remark. I’m sure all the
mature, astute readers understand that was used as an example.
One of my ALL TIME FAVES! Not sure there should be a remake, but if the writers in hollywood cant come up with new ideas, we should get used to all these remakes. Its sad, when im sure there are still so many ideas that have NEVER been done, but hey im sure its cheaper to remake a movie than to be original, and we know the movie studios are so close to going broke… yeah hahaha.
there’s no point in remaking a film unless it’s gonna be BETTER! but the casting alone signifies this will not happen. so why bother?
Two movies of my youth that should never be redone… is this one and The Goonies. But the good thing about re-makes is that you can chose to ignore them… and they make people talk about how good the original was, which will introduce new people to this Elizabeth Shue gem of a film.
Awful, just completely awful! Don’t touch a classic like Babysitting, hasn’t Hollywood learned their lesson with horrible remakes like Love Don’t Cost a Thing and Psycho??? I’m all for remaking obscure or “bad” movies, but stay away from the icons. What 80’s classic will they butcher next? Ferris Bueller? Rad? Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
The original was pretty cool. Not a classic, but pretty cool. There is no need to remake it only 20 years later. What’s especially gross about this is that it will no doubt be an urban, “hip-hop” remake, full of lame race jokes and slurs. Neat. Great job, people.
Raven is actually funny. Her show is a trip. Hopefully they’ll write a decent script and the movie won’t stink.
Leave it be, please, especially with someone like Raven as lead. I can’t even sit through an episode of her lame sitcom.