Movie- Clash of the Titans (2010)

I waffled on seeing this movie a lot. When i first heard they were remaking this classi from my childhood I was skeptical. I remembered loving the movie, the toys and the comic book I had back then. How could they improve on the camp and the creatures?
Well, I wo't go so far as to say that they "improved" the movie, but it was entertaining. I read a few reviews of the movie before I went, trying to decide if I should spend the $8.50 matinee price. I found most reviews of this movie short-sighted and very general. Most reviewers just wanted to hate this movie from the beginning and gave no time or effort into their watching or reviewing.
Yeah, there were problems....script problems, some CGI problems, and they altered the story of the original a bit. But it was all good fun. Check your brain at the door and don't try to find a really concrete story here- although I will say the story made more sense this time around than it did in the original.
Here's my breakdown of the movie:

Monsters/Creatures- This is not Ray Harryhausen- for those that don't know, he did the stop- motion animation in the original Clash, some Sinbad (no, not that lame comedian) movies, and Jason and the Argonauts, etc. There was always something otherworldly about this type of animation and it worked well in these movies. The original Medusa and Kraken were wonderful effects, if a little bit cheesy- they still scared me as a kid.
The CGI in the updated version is decent for the giant scorpions, but the Kraken and Medusa looked like video games. Medusa was too smooth and you really didn't get a decent look at her (no pun intended). The Kraken was in the movie for such a short time, and when he did arrive he looked like the creature from Cloverfield. I won't give it away, but the new take on Pegasus, I liked- many purists will probably hate it.
Of course the monsters are what makes an adventure movie like this. Though fun, they failed a bit.

Gods- Many reviews hated the acting. I found it worthy of such a movie. A bit dramatic, but so was Lawrence Olivier in the first. Neeson plays a standable Zeus, and Fiennes did a great job as the jealous Hades. The CGI for Hades was particularly good- at times wrapped in black cinders and mist, at other times the mist forms evil wings. You have to give the drama a chance- it's a Greek story. The worst part of the Gods were the anachronistic looking silver armor that all of them wore while on Olympus. It didn't fit, and conjured images from Excalibur- a much more fitting movie for such armor. I found it amusing that all the gods were represented, but almost none were introduced as in the original movie.

The story was simplfied and for those familiar with the original you knew the journey well enough to move along fast enough through certain holes in the story. An annoying reference to something in the orignal movie was quickly dismissed with a soldier telling Perseus to "leave it". Little jokes like this, while few, added nothing to the story.

So, was it worth it? yes. I've seen the original several times and it's one of those films that I always have to stop and watch when it shows up on TV. Considering the monsters in this version were bigger and badder, I can forgive the story and shiny armor. When this movie arrives on DVD I plan on buying both versions and having fun with some pseudo-greek mythology.