La Main sur le berceau

This remake feels very forced by every actor. I was excited about a remake because I LOVE the original movie. This was a huge letdown in my opinion. Nothing in this movie feels organic. They don't look/sound believable in any of the scenes. Someone else mentioned that it feels like your run of the mill Lifetime movie and I agree. Nothing worth the wait, sadly. (3 stars feels generous)

There was no reason for this to be called "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle". It is just like any hundred other psycho nanny movies that have hit Lifetime or streaming in the last 30 years. They have used the title of an existing IP to entice some extra eyeballs for an in-name remake only. This has ZERO relation to the original film and is inferior in every way.

In the original, the viewer understood the nanny's motivation to infiltrate a family, gaslight the mother and destroy the family unit from within. That helped invest us in the story. We could sympathise with the nanny, if not condone her actions, while also fearing for the safety of the family. Every single scene contributed to the plot and moved it forward.

Here, we do not know the nanny's motive. The movie relies on our familiarity with the original to deduce she has a hidden agenda, but we cannot get on side with her or understand her actions because we don't know why she's doing it! It saps the suspense as we wait and wait and wait for the big reveal. This also saps our investment in the family's safety. Why are they being threatened? Surely one of them did something bad.

This approach simply doesn't work. Revenge thrillers require an understanding of motivation, otherwise what are we doing here? When all is said and done, you end up not having much sympathy for the supposed protagonist anyway. The husband here has to be one of the most useless plot devices in a thriller in recent memory. The husband in the original was supportive and understanding (and about 20-odd years ahead of his time for a 1990s thriller.)

As a standalone psycho nanny thriller in a sea of similar movies over the last couple decades, this is perfectly serviceable. It is a slow burn with too many extraneous scenes that lead nowhere, but all of the acting is on point and there are a few fun spots along the way. The climax is violent and whacky enough to almost feel like the venture was worth it. But with the talent and budget involved, this should have been much sharper, tighter and more exciting.

I'm a big defender of remakes. I think bringing older stories into the modern era is fine and can often work out great. But some films just don't justify it at all and 'The Hand That Rocks the Cradle' falls right into that category. This movie was dead on arrival.

It's a shame too, because it has two talented actresses in the lead roles and they are giving it their everything. The problem is that the script feels like a Lifetime channel movie. Some of the drama in this movie is so forced and is frankly embarrassing to watch.

Also the morality of the situation is all over the place. It left a very bad taste in my mouth. They needed to so some serious revision in that department in my opinion.

The film is flat, poorly paced and leads nowhere. 4/10.

Reviews on here are either based on comparing it to the 1992 original or assessed as a stand alone movie.

In both cases this movie was just dreadful.

The plot was twisted up to the point it became sporadic, nonsensical and meaningless, the cast felt like they all wanted to be somewhere else and the characters they played were all so unlikeable you didn't really care about what may happen to them or the reasons why.

I'm 52 so I'm cynical. However it doesn't take anyone with brains who have watched the original to realize that this is mediocre at best. The rationale behind why story of why the nanny wants revenge is silly.

On top of it all consider the race cards covered and the man to be stupid once again. Checks all the Disney boxes.

Acting from the 2 main female characters: Good! But the storyline falls dead on so many levels.