The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)

This special ran during the week of the Ocean of Love Billboard Radiothon, so I didn't get to see it during the initial airing. As a fan of the original, I still wanted to see it, and I finally got around to firing up the DVR and watching it.

I'm a big Rocky Horror fan. I've seen the movie countless times, I've gone to plenty of midnight showings, I've even gone to a few performances of the original stage show. I don't know exactly why I enjoy it so much, but I think that's the nature of the "cult classic", it's popular with a certain crowd for inexplicable reasons. I understand the desire to update a classic to reach a new generation, but I had low expectations for FOX and would've preferred they left it alone. In the end, my low expectations were met, and I still wish they had left it alone.

There was an odd choice to take bits from the stage show and bits from the movie, and weave them together, like they couldn't decide if they wanted it to look like a movie or a play. Rather than take place in an old mansion/castle, Frank-N-Furter's lab is now located in an abandoned movie theatre - even weirder, there is a meta-audience watching the movie inside their own movie theatre, occasionally popping up as a nod to the audience participation elements of the midnight shows. I get why the directors referenced it, but it somehow managed to be used either too often or not quite enough; instead, the few times felt forced.

I really didn't like a majority of the casting; some was simply the looks, some was the direction actors (or directors) sent the characters. Victoria Justice and Ryan McCartan were both too pretty to play Janet and Brad. Reeve Carney also looked too good to be Riff Raff. Staz Nair was fine as Rocky, although the role really only calls for a muscly goon who can look afraid. Christina Milian's Magenta was forgettable; I enjoyed the look of Annaleigh Ashford as Columbia, but I didn't like that the character lost the energy she had in the movie. Ben Vereen as Dr. Scott? Bleh. Adam Lambert didn't impress me as Eddie, either. Finally, Laverne Cox as Frank. First and foremost, she had the hardest task in taking over the role of Tim Curry (a favorite of mine, and an actor I think is severely underrated and underappreciated). By no means am I discriminating against Cox, but Frank is a transvestite, not transgender. I know I can open a huge debate by trying to break down distinctions, but I just felt like something was lost by having the character present as a woman. The saving grace was bringing back Tim Curry in the role of the Criminologist.

I don't buy into the "this ruined my childhood!" thing anymore - my love for the original stayed intact. Will I watch it again and still enjoy it? Certainly. Will I ever watch this version again? Nope.