Sabrina (1954) v. Sabrina (1995)

Humphrey Bogart versus Harrison Ford, William Holden versus Greg Kinnear, and Audrey Hepburn versus Julia Ormond. In the end the classical Hollywood stars may edge the contemporary stars individually, but on the battle ground known as "Sabrina" I have to award the victory to the 1995 team. It's a close call, but having just finished viewing the original years after having seen the remake I can't help but feel a little disappointed. The narrative is slow, the characters are wooden, and the story, though familiar and delightful, is kind of uninteresting.

In comparison the remake corrects many of the mistakes the original made. The characters are more fleshed out and believable. The scenarios are more pertinent to the plot. Everything just works a lot better. Even the character Sabrina is more intriguing, which you'd think would be impossible considering Audrey Hepburn is the quintessential charming girl.

In the end fans of classical Hollywood cinema, like myself, will appreciate the original, but everyone else would probably enjoy the remake much more.

Sabrina (1954) = C+
Sabrina (1995) = B