‘Footloose’ surprisingly funnier, sunnier, funkier

Toes are tapping, feet are shuffling and boots are bouncing in the opening to the new “Footloose.” Kids are dancing and frolicking, maybe even having a few beers to the title song of the 1984 original.

Then tragedy strikes, and Bomont becomes the town that banned organized dances. But time passes, and it’s up to the dance-crazy new kid, Ren, to tame the local wild-child preacher’s daughter, Ariel, and to get Bomont back on its dancing feet.

If there is a movie more familiar to multiple generations than “Footloose,” chances are it has hills covered in edelweiss or Atlanta burning down. You tamper with a formula and a story this beloved, you do it at your own peril – even if the original movie wasn’t anybody’s idea of high art.

But director Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) re-sets that Kevin Bacon/Lori Singer/John Lithgow Midwestern hit in the rural South. He swaps a game of tractor chicken with a figure-eight school bus crash-o-rama and ingeniously adds singing 10-year-olds to the show-stopper “Let’s Hear It for the Boy.”

And he brings in real Southerners Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell and Ray McKinnon to further Southernize it. Suddenly, it makes a lot more sense. In most regards – we still miss Kevin Bacon – this is a “new and improved” “Footloose,” funnier, sunnier and funkier.

Kenny Wormald, a dancer-turned-actor (“You Got Served”), is the Boston kid who likes his music too loud for Bomont. He’s come to live with his Uncle Wes after burying his mom.

And the drawling Wes (“Dolphin Tale’s” McKinnon, superb in this part) is just the guy to show the kid the rules. Wes is a father figure who remembers his own heck-raising youth.

Julianne Hough plays Ariel as an oversexed demon in cowboy boots – teasing the boys, especially her rich redneck boyfriend. Of course she’s going to flirt with the new kid eventually – just as soon as she sees how much her preacher dad (Quaid) disapproves.

It’s a corny story, and just as dated as it was when it first came out around 27 years ago. Some scenes, such as the bus race, work on their own, but feel shoehorned in. The whole Ariel’s-jealous-boyfriend element fails to ignite.

However, the dance scenes are more fun and Hough gives it a sexy, sassy edge, all by herself – lots of hair flipping on the dance floor, tight skirts, tighter jeans.

“Put a quarter in her back pocket,” one guy suggests, “you could tell if it was heads or tails.”

If the opening dancing to the title tune doesn’t get you, the kids taking their shot at making country line-dancing cool will. And if it doesn’t, you probably never got over that crush on Kevin Bacon back in junior high.