8392225
I love the 2005 korean version (it's in my k-dramas top-5, actually), so honestly I was rather apprehensive towards a thai version with Esther Supreeleela and Pae Arak. I mean, nothing against them, but if you really love something the way it is, usually you don't wish to see it different. The only exception of this rule I've experienced personally was watching taiwanese and korean versions of 'Hana Yori Dango'. As both of them bewitched me in their own right. But that's rare, more common is people just love the version they've seen (and fell in love with) first. And that's not the only thing: although I don't mind the thai lakorns to be absolute trash and still enjoy them, the korean dramas are like totally different world to me. My expectations are considerably higher for korean drama to have quality cinematography, direction, story, acting, music... But thai lakorn? They call it guilty pleasure, tv "trash", basically the only thing I watch those for is FUN. So was I a bit concerned there exists a "trash version" of 'My Girl'? Yeah, but I've already seen worse things. I told myself that in worst case this will turn out something like 'Princess Hours' (does Esther have no-kissing policy?:) so I calmed myself and started watching.
Esther Supreeleela isn't bad cast for role of Linin (I refuse to call her 'Linen' like someone who made the subtitles persistently did... like the poor girl is some kind of a cloth:) she definitely has a funny side to her. She isn't beautiful at the same time, as Lee Da Hae was. Pae Arak is 34 here. I'm not used to the main guy in this story being this old but, his character is supposed to be opposite from the goofy Linin. Nevertheless, the 2005 My Girl's main couple cast was funny & HOT, not just funny, so there it stands unbeated. Among the pros of this version definitely is the episode runtime (it has more epis, though). Music theme is great, because it's a rip-off from the original version.
One of the most hilarious episodes in 'My Girl' was when the heroine stayed (or rather squatted) in the georgeous house that nobody used. Esther Supreeleela enjoyed this sequence too, apparently. We can see her watching 'Princess Hours' on TV (no kidding) exactly at the Tao Sattaphong's kissing scene with no kissing (did she read my review? LOL).
There's also a guy with unsightly facial hair clinging to Lilin as a second male (by the way, the korean original's second male had that typical korean androgynous look which made the main actor the more stand out... here we simply have a guy who's just plain). As I've edited that out my personal copy of korean 'My Girl' long time ago (I always make my own "director's cuts":) I completely forgot about all that (same with the side-girl). I had to wade through it again, here...
Holy cricket! There's David Asavanond. Now, he gave me a scare, LMAO. I nearly pi**ed my pants... I really forgot about this side-character, too. It must have been someone who was not THIS hilarious in the original version. Else I would have kept it. Whom I must seriously praise is Wo Jirawat Wachirasarunpat. MDL doesn't even list his support role, but for me he was one of the reasons the thai version worked at least in some ways. I definitely focused on watching different people than in the korean one. Now talking about the side-girl, here nicknamed 'Penny'. She seems kinda... older? I had to google a bit, but birth year 1980 means she's 38 here. So I was right, she's even older than Pae Arak.
Meanwhile Pae & Esther engage in large scale of funny and crazy and flirty scenes (also scenes where girl conveys her life views to the boy). Plentiful interaction of the lead couple IS the strongest suit of 'My Girl', after all. Nevertheless I find Pae a tad old for Esther. And for most of the involved antics.
20 episodes IS a bit much in this case... For me this dragged since episode 8. By epi 10 (half of the series) I was seriously more or less zoning out... Pae Arak was so thirties daddy. He just really wasn't quite as young as the role:) Most scenes that rocked the original version were not working. Around epi 11 I was considering I'd drop the series, as the remaining episodes were so many, especially after the experience with 'Princess Hours', where I also wanted to drop the series all the time but forced myself through TWENTY episodes to write solid enough review only to find out I might as well have dropped it after first few. Here, I still waited and hoped for more Wo Jirawat Wachirasarunpat or more David Asavanond. But each episode after the 11th I wished it was the last one already. Watching this, I kept thinking about how much runtime was STILL before me, more than about anything else, to be honest.
This was NOT as bad as the mentioned 'Princess Hours'. I didn't hate it, just watching Pae & Esther, I didn't particularly wish their characters to end up together. So, this didn't suit me much as romance... maybe comedy. Definitely overly long, though. I would seriously cut it to HALF.
When the main couple reached the decision to run away together and they had their kiss (which was the romantic PEAK part of the original 'My Girl') all I was thinking was she looked like she just brithday-kissed her uncle. Looking at Pae Arak, one can imagine him in family comedy, with toddlers crawling all over him, unfortunatelly he's not so convincing anymore portraying the first love angst. And as I remember the story, it would still take a while for them to get to their happy ending. So we will have now FOUR more episodes of them to niggle with it and I was SO over my patience limit already. So I just skipped through the rest (briefly saw Pae Arak crying in epi 18, he is NOT a good actor in this). They needed to re-make this into LESS episodes, not more...
In conclusion, if nothing else I got reminded I haven't watched the 2005 'My Girl' for quite some time now, perhaps time for another re-watch:)
"My girl", will always be beautiful Lee Da Hae for me, and not ever so boyish looking Esther, I am sorry. As for Pae Arak, while nearing his middle age, it's like he's somehow determined to ruin my most cherished romances from back in the day. Not only he did remake of my favorite k-drama, but also my the most beloved thai lakorn ever: 'Tok Kra Dai Hua Jai Ploy Jone' (yeah, INSTEAD of YOUNG TIK!). Both cases he'll be decade older than the previous pra'ek was. So, "younger versions" with older pra'ek... Some producers apparently believe we "need" those.
Esther Supreeleela isn't bad cast for role of Linin (I refuse to call her 'Linen' like someone who made the subtitles persistently did... like the poor girl is some kind of a cloth:) she definitely has a funny side to her. She isn't beautiful at the same time, as Lee Da Hae was. Pae Arak is 34 here. I'm not used to the main guy in this story being this old but, his character is supposed to be opposite from the goofy Linin. Nevertheless, the 2005 My Girl's main couple cast was funny & HOT, not just funny, so there it stands unbeated. Among the pros of this version definitely is the episode runtime (it has more epis, though). Music theme is great, because it's a rip-off from the original version.
One of the most hilarious episodes in 'My Girl' was when the heroine stayed (or rather squatted) in the georgeous house that nobody used. Esther Supreeleela enjoyed this sequence too, apparently. We can see her watching 'Princess Hours' on TV (no kidding) exactly at the Tao Sattaphong's kissing scene with no kissing (did she read my review? LOL).
There's also a guy with unsightly facial hair clinging to Lilin as a second male (by the way, the korean original's second male had that typical korean androgynous look which made the main actor the more stand out... here we simply have a guy who's just plain). As I've edited that out my personal copy of korean 'My Girl' long time ago (I always make my own "director's cuts":) I completely forgot about all that (same with the side-girl). I had to wade through it again, here...
Holy cricket! There's David Asavanond. Now, he gave me a scare, LMAO. I nearly pi**ed my pants... I really forgot about this side-character, too. It must have been someone who was not THIS hilarious in the original version. Else I would have kept it. Whom I must seriously praise is Wo Jirawat Wachirasarunpat. MDL doesn't even list his support role, but for me he was one of the reasons the thai version worked at least in some ways. I definitely focused on watching different people than in the korean one. Now talking about the side-girl, here nicknamed 'Penny'. She seems kinda... older? I had to google a bit, but birth year 1980 means she's 38 here. So I was right, she's even older than Pae Arak.
Meanwhile Pae & Esther engage in large scale of funny and crazy and flirty scenes (also scenes where girl conveys her life views to the boy). Plentiful interaction of the lead couple IS the strongest suit of 'My Girl', after all. Nevertheless I find Pae a tad old for Esther. And for most of the involved antics.
20 episodes IS a bit much in this case... For me this dragged since episode 8. By epi 10 (half of the series) I was seriously more or less zoning out... Pae Arak was so thirties daddy. He just really wasn't quite as young as the role:) Most scenes that rocked the original version were not working. Around epi 11 I was considering I'd drop the series, as the remaining episodes were so many, especially after the experience with 'Princess Hours', where I also wanted to drop the series all the time but forced myself through TWENTY episodes to write solid enough review only to find out I might as well have dropped it after first few. Here, I still waited and hoped for more Wo Jirawat Wachirasarunpat or more David Asavanond. But each episode after the 11th I wished it was the last one already. Watching this, I kept thinking about how much runtime was STILL before me, more than about anything else, to be honest.
This was NOT as bad as the mentioned 'Princess Hours'. I didn't hate it, just watching Pae & Esther, I didn't particularly wish their characters to end up together. So, this didn't suit me much as romance... maybe comedy. Definitely overly long, though. I would seriously cut it to HALF.
When the main couple reached the decision to run away together and they had their kiss (which was the romantic PEAK part of the original 'My Girl') all I was thinking was she looked like she just brithday-kissed her uncle. Looking at Pae Arak, one can imagine him in family comedy, with toddlers crawling all over him, unfortunatelly he's not so convincing anymore portraying the first love angst. And as I remember the story, it would still take a while for them to get to their happy ending. So we will have now FOUR more episodes of them to niggle with it and I was SO over my patience limit already. So I just skipped through the rest (briefly saw Pae Arak crying in epi 18, he is NOT a good actor in this). They needed to re-make this into LESS episodes, not more...
In conclusion, if nothing else I got reminded I haven't watched the 2005 'My Girl' for quite some time now, perhaps time for another re-watch:)
"My girl", will always be beautiful Lee Da Hae for me, and not ever so boyish looking Esther, I am sorry. As for Pae Arak, while nearing his middle age, it's like he's somehow determined to ruin my most cherished romances from back in the day. Not only he did remake of my favorite k-drama, but also my the most beloved thai lakorn ever: 'Tok Kra Dai Hua Jai Ploy Jone' (yeah, INSTEAD of YOUNG TIK!). Both cases he'll be decade older than the previous pra'ek was. So, "younger versions" with older pra'ek... Some producers apparently believe we "need" those.
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