LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Just like there are certain movies that shouldn’t be remade, there are certain real life people that should never be recreated on the big screen.
Mister Rogers is one of those people.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood doesn’t feel like a movie. It feels more like an expensive re-enactment scene from a special about Mister Rogers.
The movie is based on an Esquire article from the late 90s, in which a reporter, who normally wouldn’t, is assigned to profile everyone’s favorite sweater. It’s takes that piece of writing, and the story behind it, and adds some drama to it.
Tom Hanks plays a good enough Rogers, but it’s hard not to just see Tom Hanks. He’s gotten so big, that it’s almost impossible to see him as anyone else.
The real problem is that Fred Rogers was such a unique person. Everything about him, from his voice to his compassion, is impossible to replicate.
If you want to learn more about Mister Rogers, you have to watch the incredible documentary about him called Won’t You Be My Neighbor? If tells his story while sharing his message and it’s beautiful.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood tries so hard to make you feel something while simultaneously pumping you full of nostalgia, that it neglects to remember not Mister Rogers’s biggest songs and most important messages:
It's not the things you wear,
It's not the way you do your hair,
But it's you I like
The way you are right now.