When word that War of the Worlds was being considered for remake, my first thought was "How do you improve on the original?" I then heard that the movie was supposed to be set in the time it was actually written, and thought that would be really cool. When I learned that it was a modern setting, I was disappointed. I haven't seen it, and don't have any plans to, not at the theater at least, but I can't help think that had the movie been set back during the late Victorian period (1898) when it was actually published, it might have been better received at the boxoffice. Of course, having an actor other than Tom Cruise play the lead role might have been a benefit as well.
It's not so much a remake of the 1953 version as another crack at the novel. It's much more faithful to the spirit of the Wells text then the earlier film which was good in its own right.