Freaky Friday (1976)
vs.
Freaky Friday (2003)
Shared Plot: A mother and her teenage daughter switch places for the day and see life through each other's eyes.
THE GOOD
Well, you've got Jodie Foster, immensely talented even at 15. And there's also an incredible, madcap car chase in the finale.
THE BAD
Barbara Harris, as the teenager in a grown woman's body, acts more like a drunk than a high school girl.
THE UGLY
While living in her mother's body, the teenage Annabel has to contend with all the challenges of an adult woman's day—you know, cooking, laundry, housework, answering to her husband's demands, all that great stuff. (Sensing a theme here in the originals?)
WHAT THEY CHANGED
The mother (Jamie Lee Curtis, who is insanely good as the teenager) has a career—woo hoo!—and is about to get remarried, which adds both nice comedic and dramatic twists. Also, she and Annabel (Lindsay Lohan—apparently required-casting in these remakes) work together to get through the day, instead of each facing the freakiness completely on her own.
AND THE WINNER IS...
It's not that the old version is bad, but the remake brings enormous improvements. And the original certainly isn't going to make you tear up in the end, either, as the new version does.
Next Page: The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) vs. Flubber (1997)
