MemeMachineGo!

Seems 3 12-year-olds took it on themselves to do a shot-by-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. 7 years later, they’d finished it. Harry Knowles’ typically breathless style works well to describe it :

in Chris Strompolis’ face he captures the magic of Harrison Ford in the film. Because – when we see him and Marion in Captain Katanga’s cabin – and Marion is kissing the spots that don’t hurt… We’re witnessing Chris Strompolis’ first kiss… ever. The moment has John Williams under it, but it’s so honest and real feeling that the scene blew the audience away as if they were seeing it again… LITERALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME. Watching the Truck scene – and seeing the fear on his face as he holds onto a falling apart grill and going under the truck… We know this isn’t Terry Leonard going under the truck being dragged… we know this video camera can’t be UNDERCRANKED… Here… We see Chris Strompolis wondering if he’s gonna die trying to be Indiana Jones and it is brilliant.

Here’s another blogger’s account

It took them 8 years and you could see them change in age from scene to scene. In one scene, Indy’s voice changes between two shots. The kids incredibly ingenious in their special effects and in substitutions and staid true to the original. It was fun waiting for the next scene and wondering how they’d do it. And they never took an easy way out.

This is one of the most beautifully geeky things I’ve ever heard of, and I’d love to see it. (At first I worried it might be an elaborate hoax, but the number of confirmations of seeing it is making that unlikely.)

Usually I’m annoyed by the idea of putting all the time and effort into remaking a perfectly good movie that could have been used in the service of creating a wholly new one (c.f. The In-Laws). But that’s when it’s done by grown-ups with a lot of money. I’ve got nothing but admiration for what these kids accomplished.