While this is yet another unnecessary remake, it is fairly engrossing and effective, partly because it recycles many of the songs from the original.  This time around, Kenny Wormald plays the youngster who can’t believe that a town would outlaw public dancing, and decides to do something about it.  Wormald is no Kevin Bacon, but he is not without charm or charisma, either.  Better casting involves dancer Julianne Hough, who seems too old to be a high schooler, but looks damn fine nevertheless.  Her insouciance goes a long way to make this drama work, and she can really shake it.  For a lot of viewers, that’s all that will count.

Craig Brewer’s film updates the familiar story a little bit and, to its credit, attempts to inject some genuine drama into the proceedings.  Actually, I wanted more of that, and less of the teenage dancing.  To me, the most interesting character is Dennis Quaid’s town preacher, who has no idea how wild his daughter (Hough) has become, and who ought to be wracked with guilt that it was his beloved son who was driving recklessly and got himself and four other teens killed to start the movie, leading to the ban on dancing.  There ought to be a real backlash in the town about the fact that the preacher’s kid was drinking and driving and caused the accident, but that is never explored.  It’s a shame, because that premise is a good movie waiting to be made.

This Footloose almost works anyway, despite a high school cast that looks entirely too old to be a-learnin’, too many bad-boyfriend clichés, a decided lack of realism (the demolition bus sequence) and an odd time-warp effect caused by using so much of the original music.  The dancing is decent throughout, and sometimes spectacular, while Brewer and his cast obviously had some fun making the movie.  I’m surprised it is palatable as it is, actually, though I think much of its appeal comes from its general good-heartedness — which makes the whole thing rather old-fashioned.  It’s an odd movie experience.  I still prefer the original, but this one is not a complete waste of time.  ✰ ✰ ½.  4 Nov. 2011.