Double Wide Trailers: 'Arthur'

Posted Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 8:06 PM Central
Last updated Friday, February 11, 2011 at 12:02 PM Central

by John Couture

As anyone who reads this site for any length of time can attest, I have quite the disdain for remakes. I cherish when Hollywood rewards creativity and shuns remaking a classic with a lesser cast just to make a quick buck.

Look, I'm not a huge fan of the original Arthur, but I can appreciate the brilliance that is Dudley Moore. And I'm sorry, but in no universe does Russell Brand even come close to holding a candle to Moore.

Again, I'm no Liza Minnelli fan, but for that moment in time, she was as big as it gets. And we haven't even started talking about John Gielgud and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar he nabbed for his role in the original movie.

Yet, with all of that, the big wigs at Warner Bros. still moved ahead with its remake. It also doesn't help that I despise Russell Brand with a passion and that while Dudley Moore can pull off the alcoholic spoiled brat brilliantly, Brand just comes off as pompous and smarmy.

Looking at the two trailers (seen below), I will freely admit that trailer for the original one is far from perfect. Quite the contrary, I would argue that it doesn't do justice to the movie itself one bit. But, at least the 1981 trailer is more truthful in its representation.

The new trailer focuses solely on the ill-fated arranged marriage between Brand and Jennifer Garner. Also, it seems that they've beefed up Bitterman's role significantly at the comic expense of Luis Guzman.

One interesting change that revamp made was to recast the role of Hobson completely with Helen Mirren now acting at Arthur's nanny. It's a bold choice in the face of what Gielgud did with the original role, but I wouldn't put her down for any Oscar noms next year.

Both trailers are pretty representative of the trailers being released in their day, but I have to give a major FAIL to the remake for barely even showing Greta Gerwig at all. I guess they are hoping that you forget the original and will be surprised by the turn of the events in the new movie.

Arthur hits theaters on April 8. What do you think of these two trailers?