Fame: a Pale Comparison of the Classic

Early on in the first Fame movie, students of the performing arts high school have an impromptu jam session in the cafeteria. They dance on the tables, break out instruments, and sing at the top of their lungs. In the end, they spill out into the streets, dancing amidst the traffic, filled with talent and exuberance.

In this month's Fame remake, there is also a spontaneous cafeteria jam, but it never spills out into the street. Never explodes with excitement. And neither does the movie.

Although fun and entertaining, the new Fame movie never achieves the drama and excitement of the original 1980 classic. There are similar characters to the first movie, and many shots are copied exactly (boys puffing on tubas, frantic violin playing, and elegant black-clad ballet dancers at the bar), but most of the characters are skin deep, and undeveloped.

The two main characters of the movie are Jenny Garrison (played by Kay Panabaker) and Marco (Asher Booke). Jenny is a shy and intense girl who flubs her interview and somehow gets in to Performing Arts High School (P.A.) anyway. She is meant to be this mousy girl who blossoms into a confident young actress, but she never really pulled that off convincingly. Everything that happens to her, begining with her admission to P.A. and her pursuit by gorgeous and talented Marco, seems implausible.

The secondary storyline is the real winner, primarily due to the amazing singing talent of Naturi Naughton. She plays the character of Denise Dupree, a classical pianist with a secret yearning to sing and play modern music. She joins with two other students to form a band and hides it from her strict father.

Many other characters were introduced but hardly developed, leaving me with a sense of whiplash and disappointment. Kherington Payne plays Alice Ellerton, the bored rich girl who is a talented dancer, but she only gets a few scenes to develop her character. Her electric dance scenes are far more exciting. Same goes for the gay Iowa dancer who shows great promise that never develops into real talent: great dancing but too little character development.

Kids who didn't see the first Fame movie will most likely really like this version. There's a lot of great dance scenes and great singing. They won't know that it is missing all of the soul of the first Fame. But if you were a fan of the original, and were thinking of seeing this remake, I would suggest renting the first one instead to save yourself the letdown.