Review Roundup - Idina Menzel Stars in Lifetime's BEACHES Remake

Lifetime's reboot of the classic 1988 film BEACHES, starring Idina Menzel and Nia Long, will have its World Premiere on January 21 at 8/7c. Allison Anders ("Ring of Fire") directs from a teleplay by Nikole Beck with ("Stockholm, Pennsylvania") and Bart Baker ("Honeymoon with Harry"), based upon the novel by Iris Rainer Dart. The film features new takes on the classic songs "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "The GLORY of Love" and includes several other songs recorded specifically for the movie. (Watch the trailer below)

Let's see what the critics have to say:

Mike Hale, The New York Times: The Lifetime "Beaches" is a reduction of the original - smaller emotions, smaller performances, fewer songs, shorter running time (about 87 minutes versus 123) - and while that could have been an improvement, it's not. The things that made the original worth sitting through, whether you were love-watching or hate-watching, are mostly gone...The new things in the Lifetime film, written by Bart Baker and Nicole Beckwith (based on a novel by Iris Rainer Dart) and directed by Allison Anders, add nothing to the story...There is one improvement: Ms. Menzel sings "Wind Beneath My Wings" a half-hour sooner than Ms. Midler did. Just in case that's what you're waiting around for.

Tim Stack, EW: Also diluting the story is the fact that this Beaches is a good 40 minutes shorter than the original. While the friendship between Midler and Hershey was really given time to grow onscreen, this bonding feels more rushed. There are moments worth tuning in for, though. While very different vocally from Midler, Menzel still crushes the musical aspect of CC. And Long manages to imbue cold Hillary with a nice warmth.

Brian Lowry, CNN: Still, almost everything that happens is essentially an appetizer before getting to the main course. Menzel's singing -- including a rather perfunctory music-video version of "Wind," as well as "The Glory of Love" and other songs -- does provide compensation for wading through the melodrama, although frankly, DVR-ing and zapping to those parts would be the more time-effective option.

Robert Rorke, New York Post: With all these improvements, though, "Beaches" is still a soap. The characters are drawn from the pretty/ugly dichotomy that used to work wonders in "women's pictures" of the 1940s. "You just roll out of bed and life falls into place for you. I have to work at everything," says the talented (but not beautiful) C.C.

Katie Rife, AV Club: Menzel is an extremely talented singer, of course, and musical-theater lovers tuning in to hear her belt out show tunes on and off camera won't be disappointed. But while the remake doesn't cut corners in terms of Broadway showmanship, it does cut a half hour's worth of plot from the original movie, mostly sacrificing scenes featuring CC's character.

BWW will update with more reviews as they come in!

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