Maybe there was someone who preferred the old style of humor and wanted something different from all the gross-out teen comedies on the market.
Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
If the intention was to make a good, old-fashioned comedy for the kiddies and win a new generation of fans for Laurel & Hardy they fell a bit short. There's some really embarrassing PG attempts to hip things up (people thinking L&H are a gay couple, mild drug references, etc.), the comedy is
terrible, and most of the time is spent on a really confusing plot. Nobody seems to notice Laurel & Hardy, who are supposed to be the original duo's nephews (?!?), are dressed in 30's fashions.
I can't quite put my finger on it but there's something just really wrong about trying to recreate an actor's screen personality, as opposed to a just different actor recreating a role in a remake.
I mentioned
The Little Rascals movie before: The more I think about it the more I'm convinced the single most depraved moment in film history is a 60-ish year old woman woman asking an eight year old boy if she's getting him sexually aroused!