Seeing as the world is apparently out of new creative ideas (case in point: nü-MacGyver), it’s not surprising that so many movies are now superhero-themed, sequels, or remakes. Inferior cinematic remakes are a dime a dozen: Just over the past few weeks we’ve seen pale versions of Ben-Hur, Beauty And The Beast, and The Magnificent Seven, a remake of a remake of Seven Samurai. But occasionally, a remake outpaces its original source material, stoking the fire that revisiting previously released films might actually be worth it. As unlikely as it may seem that a valuable movie was salvaged from 1977’s Pete’s Dragon (or 1960’s The Little Shop Of Horrors), many of the films below started with exemplary originals, and then surpassed them.
