Yes, leave the classics alone, for gosh sakes.
When Merv Griffin wasn’t properly warned in advance by his staff when he interviewed a cast member of The Wiz (the all black remake of the Wizard of Oz) he was off guard and said “What? But, no. No, you can’t take a great classic and ruin it like that. That’s sacrilege. Are you serious?” He was told it was already in the plan of the studio.
On 80 Days? First of all “No.”
Jules Verne actually used a lot of ethnic and nationality traits widely held as true at the time. Accept it was a different time.
Two of my all time childhood favorites The Time Machine and Journey to the Center of the Earth were totally ruined as remakes. A shame.
Destroying the classics is a fundamental part of the Communist Manifesto, at least in principal.
“Burn it all down, man!”
**when he interviewed a cast member of The Wiz**
I’ve read about, and seen excerpts, of the Broadway show THE WIZ. It was Great!
Then they decided to make it into a movie and (can’t say it here) by putting adults in child roles, pimps and “Hos”, just the thing blacks were used to seeing in their ghettos.
It was unwatchable. Even black audiences refused to go see that piece of dreck.
Siskel and Ebert said it was the last of the Blacksploitation movies produced by whites.