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It's anewoldbredkr*u'glt$:, its $eg*s'g res$**{.*lq:t''The Shaggy Dog,'

*$ m g**r$ fu**te

il' !. "-:i. IBY FRANK TOVECESPECIAL TO NEWSDAY

henShaDodambintoaterFridarepred more than just a showcfor reg'lar-guy comic TimAllen as he played at beindog.It was also the ninth of abreed of movies from WalDisneyPictures: Like the aed feature moviegoers canexpect once a year, there's

a Disney live-action remak"classic," back-in-the'day fto go withit. Shaggy dogs,cats, flying rubber, freaky fdays - all that Disney demofour and probably our pachildhoods just won't go awOnce, they helped fill thlong-running Sunday-nightime slot of T\ts "The Woful World of Disney''; laterserved as fodder for TV-mremakes. But then, withthe1993 theatrical remake of tlost-animel movie "The Incble fournef' (1963), Disnebegan methodically pumpiout new big-screen, live-acversions of animatsd ("Ttlfungle Boo(" "One Hundrand One Dalmatians") andlive-action films ("The AbsMinded Itofessor," "FreakFriday''and "The Love BugOf course, Disneyis simpdoing what it does with TV,DVD, theme parks, SupremeCourt copyright decisioru amore - recycling, repurpos

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proves that every dog has hlg day (in court,in the latest remake of "The Shaggy Dog."rehashing its library. This isafter all, that madeout ofits Pirates ofthe

and Country BearDisneyland attractions.built-in audienceIt's not a failure qf imegina-"We live in an age whenso expensive toto promote, thatgives you immediaterecognition," saysHiX,47, a journalistWeb site, IimHillMe-Disneyanaby himself and oth-

"It's the ssme reason thatbig movies this summertwo sequels, 'Mission:III' and'Spider-3.'You say'The Shaggypeople say,'Yeah, Ithat is, I knowI'll take my"Parents are alwayslooking for something totake kids toseer"aglees

Leonard Maltio, the "Entertain-ment Tonight" correspondentand author of "The DisneyPilms," in addition to his name-sake annual'Movie Guide.""When you push the nostalgiabutton for the parents andpromise good clean fun for thekids, people will go."That darn remakeOr not. Most Disney remakes,do only moderately respectablebusiness in theaters, grossing inthe $4O million-$65 millionrange. The 1997 remake ofl96fs"That Darn Cat!" proved pre.scient in removing the title'sexclamation poinu The newversiongrossed just $f82 mil-lion The success of 2003's'Freaky Friday''was an aberra-tion That well-reviewed come-dy starringfamie t ee Curtis andDisney actress-on-call LindsayIoban (she's done three re-makes so far) grossed more then$ll0 million The onlyotherremake to break $100 millionwas'101 Dalmatians" 0996).So why have remakes becomeso esablished? Becatrse asidefrom the name-recognition thatmakes marketing easier, theycontinue to earntheirkeep inthe aftermarket of video, theDisney Channel and zuch intan-gibles as refreshing theme parksand merchandising with newfranchise characters.Andalot there are: Start-ing with Disney's firstSsaturs, thg enimeted'Snow \ilhite and the SevenDwarfs" O97), and count-ingupthrough1983 -theyearbefore Disney'sTouchstone division was

created to release filmsmorewith-it than "TheAppleDumplingGang

.

rieind movie con-cepts? They're sooverrated. Here's aremovies Disney liked sowell, they did 'em again(films are listedby year of remakerelease).The Incredible |outley(1963) - Narrated by RexAllenHomeward Bound:The Incredible foumeY(f993) - Voices of DonAmeche, Michael J. Fox,Sally FieldThe fungle Book (1967animated) - Voices of PhilHarris, Sebastian Cabot,touis Prima George Sand-ersThe fungle Book (1994live-action) - fason ScottLee, Cary Elwes, Sam Neill,|ohn CleeseOne llundred andOne Dalmatians (196fanimated) - Voices of RodTaylor, Betty Lou Gerson,Cate Bauer, |. Pat O'Malleyf0l Dalmatians (1996live-action) - Glenn Close,Jeff Daniels,foely Richardson, foanPlowrightThat Darn Cat! (1965) -Hayley Mills, Dean )ones,Dorothy Provine, RoddyMcDowallThatDarn Cat(J9/D-Christina Ricci, Doug E.Doug, Dean |ones, PeterBoyleThe Absent-Minded Pro-fessor (1961) - Fred Mac-Murray, Nancy Olson"KeenanWynn, Tomny KirkThe Absent-Minded Pro-fessor (1988 TV-movie) -Harry Anderson, MaryPage Keller, David Paymer,Stephen DorffFlubber (r99D - RobinWilliams, Marcia Gay Hard-en, ChristopherMcDon2ldThe Parent Trap (196D -Hayley Mills, MaureenO'Hara Brian KeithThe Parent Trap(f998) Lindsay Lohan,

Fred MacMurray, top,Robin Williams were babsent-minded profess

Hayley Mills, above, aLinsday Lohan, below, wtwins in "The Parent Tr

famie Lee Curtis, LindsLohan" MarkHarmon"Harold GouldtheloveBq (1969) -Dean fones, Michele LeDavid Tonlinson, BuddHackettEerbie: Fully Loaded(2005) - LindsayLohan, Michael KeatonMatt Dillon, Breckin MTte ShaggyDog (1959Fred MacMrrrray,learrHagen, Tommy KirlqAnnette FunicelloTlie Shaggy D.A- (197Dean |ones, Tim Conw

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Disney's new old breedMOVIES from C6Lohan ofhis day. It's dso avast mine inwhich to prospect for cinematic gold.What the live-actionfilms have incommon is a factory formulawithchil-dren s-book appeal. "Disney was good atablend of magic and humor," Hill says.Indee4 movies such as "The UglyDachshund," "The Computer WoreTennis Shoes" and "Charlie, the Lone-some Cougar" have their fans to this day- includinggrown-ups tooyoung tohave seen them even in re-release.

"It could be live-action or animated,but you know it's a Disney movie," says24-year-old Rebecca Blumenfeld, aNorth Hollywood, Calif., secretary whoresponded to areporter's questions ona Disney fan forum. 'You could be 4years old or ll0 years old," she says in atelephone interview, "and you're al-ways gonna love a Disney movie."rrlt's not 1957 anymore"Still, filmmakers who have to updatethose originals for modern-day audienc-es find it as challenging as making aninteresting sandwich with white bread.'You have to respect the Disneybrand,but it's not 1957 anymore," says "ShaggyDog" director Brian Robbins, aonetimeactor ("Head of the Class") who'sevolvedinto a zuccessful fiImandTVproducer whose cfedits include Nickel-odeon s variety show "All That," "It's afine line, but as a father oftwo youngboys. . . Iknowwhichbuttons topushand which buttons I don't wanna push"For this new frlm, Robbins watchedthe 1959 original and its 1976 sequel,"The Shaggy D.A.," "and I realized that,OK, we're buying a really smart, high-concept idea, a man turning into a dog,and we're buying a great title, and that's

about it. Now we need to set off like theoriginal was never made,like someonejust pitched a new liLn about a manturning into a dog." Getting the rightmodern-daytone while keeping the filmtrue to the Disneybrand, withits Holi-day Inn / McDonald's reliability, is thetricky part. "I like the remake of 'FreakyFriday' a lot," he says, "and it was sort oa tbmplate for us" in teruts of tone. .The remakes, Maltin says, "really aremodern in their attitude and outloolq asthey would have to be. But I think theytrv to draw on at least some of theat'peal of the originals at the same timeIf you believe in what you're doing," hepoints out of the filmmakers involved,nit won't be corny. If you approach itfrom a cynical point of view, it's notgonna work for anybody."'You have to recognize the originalsfor what they are," says Hill. "Cheesebut really good cheese. They had greatspecial effectsfor their time. And it'salways funto see ayoung Tim ConwayDonKnotts or Deanfones. You havethese amazing performances because aactor reallyhas to fill the gap whenhispartner is a Siamese cat or a living car.For that alone," he says with a chuckle,"Deanlones deseryes an Oscat."In which case he'd be the only WaltDisney star to get one besides fulieAndrews, who won abest actress AcademyAward for the 1964 musical "MaryPoppins." For all their homely virtues,critics'darlings these movies are not.And yet . . . here they are. And areAnd are. And here they come again: Anew version of"Bedknobs and Broomsticks" is on the drawing board. Anddirector )onathan Mostow (V-57L,""Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"is at work on a "swiss Family Robin-son" remake. Look for it in 2007.

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