Pet Sematary 2019 SPOILERS
Amazon has this in 4K for $2 so I was tempted to watch it last night. I am generally not a fan of reboots. I've read the book and seen the 1989 original. The runtime is about the same as the 1989 version. It tracks very closely for the first half or so, almost boringly so. There is a twist and then it diverges a bit. So there are some aspects there to keep it interesting.
The pacing feels a bit quicker than the original at first. Many elements are cut out like the dispute between Louis and Amy's parents and the nanny. Pascal is dialed back quite a bit.
It looks good, but is a bit dark and dreary and doesn't benefit much from the 4K resolution.
The reveal about Amy's sister is less dramatic, as is the death of the child on the highway. The sister is reimagined as mostly being thumping sounds coming from upstairs (and a bizarre scene involving a dumbwaiter?)
John Lithgow was solid, but I preferred Fred Gwynne as Jud. There was that important question and conversation about burying people that didn't make it into this version. Why cut that? Jud gets drugged in this version which seemed unnecessary.
There is a bit more time for the undead monsters at the end. It's no small task to turn these adorable children into fearsome ghouls.
In King's nightmarish vision, the resurrected are quite creepy and know things they shouldn't know. This aspect is lost in both movies. Both have them flash between cute and corrupted. This version also imparts the daughter with an upgraded brawling ability.
What would it be like living with a child who was raised from the dead? There are these moments between the father and the daughter which end up being mostly wasted opportunities to explore that more deeply. There is some creepiness here, but it just isn't King-sized.
So it's a mixed bag. The original was probably the best of the King movie adaptations, so the reboot seems mostly pointless.