There have been many classic movies remade years later, some are good and some are not. It depends on the how the story is interpreted. In the early movies sex and violence are hardly ever shown they are implied. In the newer versions they don't hold back anything. This might be what is appealing to the new audiences. They have seen the classic and want to see the actual murder or love scene between two characters.

In the newer versions of movies they have been able to take special effects to a whole new level. Sometimes this isn't always good. In the 1960's series of Batman, the cheesiness of the show was the best part. Batman always had whatever they needed to escape or apprehend the bad guy. For example, he would say "good thing I put this vial of shark repellent in my bat belt this morning". Never has anyone been better prepared for anything since the old Batman shows. In the remakes they took him to a whole new level making everything very slick and futuristic. They took out the innocence, the heart and soul of why we loved it so much as children.

Another example of a remake gone badly is Godzilla. The reason everyone loved the old Godzilla movies is because you could tell it was a man in a monster suit crushing a cardboard Tokyo. Half the fun of watching these movies was to see how fake many things were and try to find the wires swinging the monsters around. In the recent version, they made Godzilla the bad guy. This turned the character into something else. Even in a remake the basic personality of a character shouldn't be changed. In the old movies he was the protector even if he destroyed everything he was trying to protect.

But there are great remakes of mediocre classic movies. For example, the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder, this movie was based on a book and for anyone who loved the book the original classic movie was a disappointment. But in the updated version, starring Johnny Depp, they stayed very close to what the author of the story was trying to convey. Making the new release an instant classic.

Then there is the comic remake of the classics. Often a writer will take the best parts of a particular genre and combine them into a comic spoof, these movies have formed a genre all their own. Mel Brooks is a master with this type of remake. For example, Blazing Saddles pokes fun of the old westerns and makes a statement about racism. Another classic remake was Young Frankenstein, based on the old Frankenstein movies.