When Hollywood Gets The Reboot Right
A look into how some recent Hollywood Blockbusters show the do’s and don’ts of retelling a classic story.
The three Rs—reduce, reuse, recycle—have guided generations towards a brighter future. Hollywood, adhering to this classic mantra has produced a fourth and fifth: reboot and remake. This summer’s newest entries include Superman, Lilo & Stitch, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Movies connect with people through imagination, heart, and ensuring their stories resonate with the audience. However live-action reboots of beloved childhood stories are well-received, and Lilo & Stitch (2025) is a prime example of why. The 2002 film was a bold risk for Disney, embracing a new animation style and setting its fantastical story within the very real culture of Hawaii. At its core, the film was about support, family—given and chosen—summed up by the word “Ohana.” The 2025 reboot, feels like a betrayal of that spirit.
In the pursuit of “realism,” Disney abandons the intent of the original and delivers a story that leaves audiences unsatisfied at best and furious at worst. The remake lingers on Nani’s financial struggles in caring for Lilo and Stitch, resulting in her leaving her family behind to pursue a degree on the mainland. This shift reframes the narrative around prioritizing individual ambition instead of community and for fans of the original, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. This narrative change alienates audiences that cherished the original’s focus on togetherness and leaves children with a message without the original’s warmth.
Contrastingly, Superman (2025) embraces the challenge of a reboot and triumphs because it retains what audiences have loved about the character since his inception. James Gunn’s film has heart, thoughtful real world allusions, and the silliness necessary for a story about a man flying in red trunks. Superman has always resonated with general audiences because he is both extraordinary and deeply ordinary. His powers set him apart, but his values including kindness, humility, and compassion make him relatable. Audiences love him because he makes selfless goodness feel achievable.
Superman (2025) highlights this balance in its storytelling as Gunn peppers the film with moments of humanity such as: Superman pausing to save a squirrel mid-battle, holding up a collapsing building until a civilian escapes, and deliberately steering a monster into an empty park to minimize casualties. These details reinforce the idea that every life matters. In a time audiences are feeling fatigued of superhero films, Gunn’s Superman resonates for feeling both fresh and familiar. It reminds audiences that heroism does not come from brute strength but from moral conviction. Viewers leave theatres brimming with optimism, carrying with them the sense that choosing hope and kindness is not only possible but necessary.
How to Train Your Dragon (2025) offers another lesson in how to reboot: change nothing. The live-action version mirrors the animated original almost frame for frame, with dialogue, scenes, and even its pacing left intact. While it raises questions about the redundancy of a remake, it hits the mark. The strength of the original film was in its story’s timelessness. At its core, How to Train Your Dragon is about empathy, the courage to challenge traditions, and friendship. By resisting the temptation to modernize the story with grittier realism or unnecessary subplots, the reboot allows these themes to shine once more. The result is an experience that feels familiar yet powerful, evoking the same joy and wonder that captivated audiences the first time around. In staying faithful to the heart of the story, the reboot demonstrates that a reimagining does not need reinvention.
Another recent blockbuster remake Wicked (2024) Broadway to screen adaptation. It evoked similar feelings of togetherness through the friendship of Elphaba and Glinda. The 2024 film succeeded where others fail by focusing on the qualities that resonated most with audiences in the stage musical: heart, friendship, and challenging injustice. Fans of the original Broadway production loved Wicked for its balance of dazzling spectacle and emotional weight of its story. The film manages to showcase a story of how society creates villains and the bond between two women from opposite worlds.
Audiences connected strongly to the way the movie addressed issues like bullying, prejudice, and corrupt leadership. These themes were grounded in the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda and the film never allows the spectacle of Oz to overshadow their connection. Even in its most fantastical moments, pink bubbles, green skin, and soaring musical numbers, the narrative emphasizes solidarity and loyalty. Despite some of its CGI and backlit shots being clunky, Wicked (2024) succeeds in delivering fantastical escapism infused with enough sincerity that even musical skeptics left the theatre with a newfound appreciation.
Remakes and reboots are a trend Hollywood won’t shake because nostalgia guarantees a box office profit. But the conversations around the execution of these movies differ greatly. A strong remake reinforces the core message of the original, expanding and enriching it with new scenes that highlight what made it special in the first place. When filmmakers respect the source material, as Superman (2025), Wicked (2024), and How to Train Your Dragon (2025) demonstrate, they revive a classic story and remind audiences why they loved it in the first place. A complete rejection of the original, like in Lilo & Stitch (2025), results in a hollow imitation that alienates fans and undermines the legacy it sought to capitalize on. Ultimately, audiences will always welcome revisiting familiar worlds but Hollywood must let the core of the original story shine in order to maintain support.
