A quick overview of each version:
The Nutty Professor is about a nerdy chemistry teacher who uses the classroom lab to create a potion to make him into a person he desires to be. He becomes a handsome, smooth, cool, obnoxious girl-chasing hipster and calls himself Buddy Love. Buddy Love pursues a student - Stella Purdy - who hates him, but finds herself attracted to him. The problem with the serum is that the duration can not be controlled. Professor Kelp knows his alternate persona is arrogant but can't resist taking the serum and becoming Buddy Love over and over because he loves the amount of attention he gets as him. His secret is revealed when he sings at a student dance as Buddy Love and transforms back into Kelp.
The film ends with Kelp and Purdy running away together and Kelp's father selling the serum to students.
In the remake the professor is a largely overweight chemistry teacher. (Changed for modern audiences) who uses classroom lab to create a formula that reconstructs the DNA of an obese person to help them lose weight easily. He asks a student to a date and is heckled by a comedian. He then uses the serum and becomes a thin, confident, obnoxious girl-chaser. He also calls himself Buddy Love.
The before and after of the original Kelp shows how he was a nerdy professor who became a 'crude chick-magnet'.
The before and after of Klump shows that he was just thinner, no longer wearing glasses and now obnoxious.
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- The film is set in 1962 (present day) in Arizona state university
- The film is set in Present day at Wellmen college
- The main difference between the settings of the films is the time period. They are both set in present day of when they were filmed. There are many differences that are going to occur between these times. The main difference is what is seen as an outcast individual. In the original the main character is geeky and weak, in the remake the main reason he dislikes himself is his weight. In modern day more people with a weight problem are picked on than those who are just a bit geeky.
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- The budget is unknown on the internet, but most Jerry Lewis films started low budget and then increased the richer he became. This is one of his slightly later films, so I would assume it had a reasonable budget.
- The estimated budget for the remake was $54 million.
- The main difference here is the fact that the remake had a bigger production value because more money was needed to create the special effects and make-up for Eddie Murphy's fat look.
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- The audience for the original film is likely families and adults because it is rated a PG. Although the trailer does appear to be aimed more towards adults and maybe young adults since it is set in a University.
- This remake was also rated a PG. I think this version is aimed more towards children and families because there is a large amount of toilet humour and Eddie Murphy plays an entire family. This sort of relates to Pantomime dames, which children usually enjoy.
- I think that the original is aimed more towards adults and young adults (university aged). Whereas the remake is more of a family/kids movie since it is full of fat jokes and bathroom humour.
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- There are most likely a few reasons for the remake. I believe that it was an artistic reason for Eddie Murphy, although he had a lot to live up to. I do believe that there are finical reasons too. I think that because the film was so long ago they thought it would do well with a modern revamp. I also think that Eddie Murphy was due a good comedy, so they just took an existing comedy and did a new version that was less funny.
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- Any films that made an impact on the production of the remake
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- Kelp's father makes a remark about the ransom paid to Cuba for the Bay of Pigs Invasion survivors. And Kelp's initials are JFK, which are seen of his briefcase.
- Social and political issues at time of remake
- Differences
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- It was released in June 1963, a summer film. The trailer is the main bit of marketing done for the film. It's main statement is 'Please do not reveal the middle of this picture'. They state that it's okay to talk about the beginning and end but everyone should watch the whole thing not knowing the middle of the story before hand. The trailer is meant to be comical, it warns people, that if they do reveal the middle they won't be allowed popcorn in the cinema. It only gives away the geeky character and the fact that some kind of potion appears to go wrong. The music used in this part makes it look a little scary, so maybe this is being aimed towards adults. Also, there is a part where the narrator is trying to get Kelp's attention but he is staring at his love interest. This is to add more comical elements to the trailer and still not give away too much about the film.
- The remake trailer has a narrator to make it like the original trailer. But this one reveals basically the whole story and some parts that are obviously dream sequences were shown as important parts of the movie. This particular trailer seems to appeal to adults more because it doesn't give away much of the humour and doesn't show much of the family. Although I believe that the fat jokes shown in the trailer are there for a young audience.
- The differences between the marketing include the different reasons for the trailer. The original is advertising cinema release and the other is advertising cinema but is also advertising VHS release because that is expected of a film at that time.
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- This film couldn't be released on DVD or video like films are now. It was released in cinemas and released on DVD in 2000.
- At the time of this film's release DVDs were on their way. In the same year of cinema release, the Nutty Professor was released on VHS. The DVD was released in January 1998 - Almost 2 years after initial cinema showings.
- There is a big difference between the 2 different processes of release. The remake was able to release a VHS like most films would these days
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- I personally think that there must have been some worry from those who liked the original when this remake was announced. Also, Eddie Murphy was said to have been in a rough patch, and not being as funny or creative as he once was, although this film was said to have brought him back. Jerry Lewis was credited as a producer of the Eddie Murphy remake. Jerry Lewis called Murphy "one of the five funniest men in the world", but wasn't a fan of the remake."When he had to do fart jokes he lost me, as a matter of fact, I told his editor, If he wants any more from me on a creative level, tell him to pull the whole sequence. What I did was perfect. And all you're going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it. I won't go through it again."
- When the film was released it received good reviews from critics and got a fairly good response. It got 65% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 62/100 on Metacritic.
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The transformation of the professor to Buddy Love was different in each version. In the original Kelp goes through a change that implies that he is transforming into a hideous monster. Using close ups and shadows it shows him turning blue, hairy and growing claws. It is quite a distressing scene and could be disturbing to some audiences. During the transformation Kelp's bird is saying "I told you, Julius" That transformation is then never seen again. When he changes back into Kelp he just slowly changes back, starting with the voice, and then the teeth.
The Eddie Murphy version of the transformation was very much about the difference in weight. When Buddy Love changed back into Klump he would grow in size and different parts of him would expand before others. A memorable scene is when he is changing back and his bottom lip is the first part to grow and it is supposedly meant to look funny.
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