2/4  Miracle on 34th Street Quick Review
They didn't need to remake this film. The Natalie Wood version was good enough.

5/5 Favorite Holiday Classic!
  by J2paint (California, USA)
This is my favorite holiday movie! The little girl is adorable, and the whole show will melt your heart like butter. I have to say that I don't remember the original, but I'm a sucker for color! And this movie definitely has that, from the humor to the sparkle in the little girl's eyes. Love, Love, Love this movie! It's a gem!

5/5 The previous review was written by a GRINCH!!!
  by William R. Moore (Wichita Kansas)
I can't believe this fool wrote such a horrible review of this wonderful and charming remake! Sir Richard Attenborough was every bit as good as Edmund Gwenn and I think that it was one his most memorable roles. As for Mara Wilson, she CAN act and played her part with great character and warmth. She only made one other movie and then chose to persue her education rather than becoming another "has been" child star as the writer put it. The rest of the cast was absolutely perfect from Dylan McDermott to Elisabeth Perkins, William Windom and all the others. John Hughs made a new classic in "Miracle" and Bruce Broughton composed a memorable and magnificent score. This film has and will take its rightful place in the annals of truly great Christmas movies. Now, if they can just bring to DVD the Fred Astaire TV classic movie, "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit.!

3/5 Pretty enjoyable film...
  by Patricia Wadsworth (Indianapolis, Indiana United States)
Try to enter into the spirit of the movie and don't constantly compare it to the fantastic original movie. You'll enjoy it then on its own merits.

4/5 Enjoyable
  by D. Sharkey (New Jersey)
Though not as good as the original (what is?), this is an enjoyable movie. Certainly belongs in your holiday watching rotation.

1/5 HO! HO! HO-RRIBLE!
  by M. Miller
Oh, the remake was horrible! John Hughes doesn't trust his audience to have the intelligence to "get" something, he has to beat you over the head with it. Examples are everywhere in the remake. The bad guys are clowns. When Santa says "we can't let the children down" Doris is all "Yes,,, the children..." because, you know, we wouldn't get that she was more concerned with her parade than the kids. Santa using sign language instead of speaking Dutch. The mom who "just don't get it" that Kris is sending people to other stores becomes some overbearing Rosie O'Donnell type harpy. And lets not forget Mara Wilson lisping her way through the role to hide the fact she can't act.

The deaf girl is typical John Hughes heavy handedness and is a good example of how this movie is a joke compared to the original. Instead of accepting that the audience would have the intelligence to "get" that Santa speaking dutch could show that he really IS Santa, Hughes has his Santa use bizarrely exaggerated sign language...and it drags out forever. You half expect hughes to jump into the scene and yell at the audience "SEE?!? He does SIIIGGGNNN LANGUAGE!!! He Really IS Santa!!!"

And good 'old Mara Wilson. Can't wait for her autobiography, "Lisping My Way Through Hollywood." At least in the original, the little girl acted.

Horrible, horrible version.

Out of all the remakes I've seen, this one is the worst! This movie was so horrible Macys refused to lend their name to it as to not tarnish the original classic. Dylan McDermott is no John Payne, Mara Wilson is no Natalie Wood for sure, and Attenborough is certainly no Edmund Gwenn. The chemistry between the actors in the original was like lightning captured in a jar. And that kind of lightning doesn't strike twice. You couldn't pay me to watch this!

Mara Wilson is awful in this version! Whispering and lisping all your lines is not acting in my book. There's a reason why Natalie Wood thrived in Hollywood long after she was a child star and why Mara Wilson is another has-been child star. THE REMAKE will never ever have the charm and enjoy the longevity that the original has. I won't even call the 1994 version by the title because its not deserving of it, I just refer to it as THE REMAKE. Like Maureen O'hara said "100 years from now people will still be looking at Miracle On 34TH Street (1947)" Don't think you can say the same of the 1994 movie thats the epitome of mediocrity.

The original is from a time when people made movies with quality and integrity, where there was a pride and sincerity the actors had for their roles and for the message of the movie - not the assembly line produced drivel they put out now where mostly the actors give a half-@ss performance just to collect their paycheck.


They could play THE REMAKE 24/7, 365 days a year and it would still never reach the pinnacle of classic, the only title that lousy film has earned is a place in the $5 bin at Walmart.