Now I normally despise remakes of old tv shows, but the Brady Bunch movies are different - they don't "do the same old thing" with updated sets and characters nothing like the originals...
...they are the original characters surrounded by an updated reality.
The movies are parodies of the tv show they pay homage to, but at themselves as well. They are not a desire to modernize old characters that some dilettante dingbat thinks modern audiences would appreciate (hint, modern audiences DON'T), but the writers actually did something creative without losing the essence of the original characters. They knew the charcters and how to fit the new style comedy. They have the surreal spark that actually makes doing something with an old premise worthwhile. And such a mix is a rare treat; that most tv-made-into-movies creators just cannot even begin to grasp.
The movies themselves are a handful of vignettes from original TV episodes; but warped with modern day society - including puns that would otherwise be deemed vulgar, come off surprisingly inoffensive because these characters are still in the 1970s and the rest of the world is in 1995 (or 1996).
Well, there are some differences - nobody expected the movie's writers to also incorporate the actual actors' behind-the-scenes moments into the movies as well; it has been said that the actors playing Marcia and Greg may have dated, so lo and behold the writers turn Movie Marcia and Movie Greg into doing it. This is somewhat perverse, but because we all know it's a self-referential homage, the end result is more hilarious than vulgar.
Of course, there are the DVDs themselves - the 5.1 Dolby sound is terrific, and the visual looks colorful and crisp, even if there are some periodic artifacting defects. Nothing major. And it's in 16:9 enhanced format, so I'm not going to complain.
The DVD releases are solid, there's little that could be done to improve the quality, and it's a shame a third Brady movie was never made. And it's a shame so many old-tv-to-movie shows are even given a first shot with their "movies by numbers" ineptitude.
None.
