Remaking The Oldies ‘Sabrina’ And ‘Father Of The Bride Ii’ Are Just Two In The Newest Wave Of Remakes

Let’s give remakes a little respect. Or at least the chance to earn some.

Even though a recasting of “Miracle on 34th Street” bombed last year, Hollywood has pinned some of its brightest holiday hopes - and hype - on a pair of retreads.

An update of 1954’s “Sabrina” is a genuinely charming Cinderella comedy, with Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear daring to fill the glass slippers of, respectively, Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden.

“Father of the Bride Part II” has a more complex lineage. The new comedy, sequel to the 1991 Steve Martin film, is also a remake of 1951’s “Father’s Little Dividend,” which itself was a sequel to 1950’s original “Father of the Bride.”

“Sabrina” director Sydney Pollack says he initially resisted the project because he thought remakes represent “a paucity of imagination.”

Good point, but is a remake really less imaginative than yet another Ace Ventura flick?

The remake of a classic sounds a lot more appetizing than watching Ace Ventura tromp through Alaska or Acapulco or wherever nature next calls him.

Remakes generally have good base material - actually emphasizing characters and emotions in a way many of today’s films don’t. Their abundance might indeed represent “a paucity of imagination” - but not a paucity of substance.

The trick is casting. The new performers shouldn’t erase memories of a classic performance, but they should create new shadings. In “Sabrina,” Ormond doesn’t ape Audrey Hepburn any more than Winona Ryder tried to displace Katharine Hepburn in last year’s “Little Women.” The big surprise is that Greg Kinnear, in his screen debut, develops a more full-blooded character than Holden was allowed to.

Most remake filmmakers have respect for the original source, but ego plays a big role, too. If Judy Garland can create a legend with “A Star Is Born” (itself a remake), why can’t Barbra Streisand? If John Garfield and Lana Turner could make memorable eye contact in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” how about the same movie with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange making contact with more than just their eyes?

Remakes are definitely here to stay. Look ahead to the 1996 holiday season: Two of the biggest releases 12 months hence will be “The Preacher’s Wife” and the live-action version of “101 Dalmatians.”

“The Preacher’s Wife” will take a new look at the 1946 holiday perennial “The Bishop’s Wife,” with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston in roles originated by Cary Grant and Loretta Young. Even more intriguing, at least in print, is “101 Dalmatians,” in which the canines will remain silent but Glenn Close, the hare-hating villainess of “Fatal Attraction,” should have plenty to say as would-be dog-destroyer Cruella de Vil.

“Dalmatians” twists the usual formula, in which a familiar live-action fable becomes fodder for animation. An example is Disney’s animated feature coming next summer, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which takes an upbeat ‘toon approach to Victor Hugo’s tragic story, previously filmed at least three times.

From any viewpoint, 1996 will be peppered with remakes:

“The Nutty Professor” - Eddie Murphy does Jerry Lewis. It boggles the mind.

“Ransom” - Both Mel Gibson and director Ron Howard are in a position to do any project they want, yet they chose to collaborate on a remake of a hazily remembered Glenn Ford thriller.

“Fahrenheit 451” - Also on Gibson’s plate is a long-planned remake of the Francois Truffaut film. It takes nerve to remake the late, revered Truffaut, but Mad Max never lacked for courage.

“The Island of Dr. Moreau” - Batman Val Kilmer will leap into yet another version of this film. Marlon Brando takes over as the “Yes, I experiment on live animals!” scientist played at various times by Charles Laughton and Burt Lancaster.

“Diabolique” - Sharon Stone, fresh from garnering the best reviews of her career in “Casino,” will face her toughest critical challenge in the remake of this French classic. She’ll play a schoolteacher’s seductive but lethal mistress - the role that made an international star of the late Simone Signoret.

Ironically, at a time when remakes are more in abundance, they also seem chancier. The biggest box-office attractions are original works, such as “Apollo 13” and “Toy Story.” Plus, the originals are often only a video rental away.

Yet almost no film these days is truly original. “Pulp Fiction,” hailed as one of the most original films in years, was really an homage to gangster flicks and ‘70s pop culture.