It's the Japanese remake of Miss Granny and you should avoid it. Watch the Korean original instead.

The biggest problem is the characterisation choices and the actors. Na Moon-hee was archetypal as the 74-year-old Oh Mal-soon. You recognised her. She was emblematic, almost iconic. She was like the standard-bearer for overbearing grandmothers. She was fat, loud and hiding a painful history under her boorishness.

Mitsuko Baisho as Old Granny is... no. Just no. Absolutely not. She's a good actress, but she's just wrong. Her introduction looked like some kind of flash-forward with magic energy from becoming fifty years younger. She's as thin as a rake, with a figure like a 20-year-old. She's full of energy. She dances and skips down the street. On meeting teenage thugs, she kicks one as if she were the same age as them (and even then you'd need courage).

Satomi Kobayashi plays her daughter, but you'd think they were sisters. Surprisingly, though, the actor's ages hold up. This film was shot in late 2015, when...

Baisho's performance in isolation is pretty good. They've added some Japanese character beats, e.g. falling for a scam over her grandson's reputation. They've combined the son and daughter-in-law characters into a divorced daughter, who's the best thing here by miles. No matter how annoyed I'd got, I'd always lap up any scene with Satomi Kobayashi. When she's on-screen, it's a better film. Anyway, Baisho is clearly a good actress and I'd watch her in other films... but her choices here give Tabe nowhere to go as the rejuvenated granny. She was like a twenty-year-old already. What would it mean to play a younger version of that? I loved Shim Eun-kyung's work in this role in the Korean film, but I hated the equivalent performance from Tabe. She manages some nice vocal work and body language (e.g. when sitting down with a cup of tea), but she's also capable of turning into a cartoon. She makes some stupid performance choices. Occasionally, she pulls faces that should have got her fired.

They've shaved off the harsh edges. South Korean films are often dark and shocking, even in a light comedy like this. Baisho doesn't physically assault a customer, although that would be unthinkable in Japan. She doesn't drive anyone to a heart attack. She didn't destroy anyone's restaurant and no one died in despair. Watching the films back-to-back makes this remake look bland and toothless.

I don't like the director. He shoots a huge introductory scene from the ceiling, so we aren't properly introduced to its characters. Later, we'll meet again that old bloke who fancies Old Granny, but your reaction will be "who?" Similarly, the black-and-white footage for Old Granny's younger years looks unconvincing. It's black-and-white, but the picture quality is a sharp as a pin and it doesn't look any older than last Tuesday.

Even the songs are worse than the original's.

The only script change I like is Old Granny's wannabe-boyfriend no longer dressing up in biker leathers and getting a motorbike. Those scenes had been silly. Get a grip, man. As for the actors, I loved Satomi Kobayashi. She's the reason I kept watching. She has integrity. Otherwise, though, this is a lightweight, stupid rehash that's sanded away anything sharp, startling or edgy. Rejuvenated Granny impersonates Wonder Woman by chasing down on foot a motorbike-riding hoodlum... and doesn't notice anything unusual about her new physical abilities. Only seeing her own reflection makes her realise. This film contains good things, but it's bollocks. The most amusing thing in it for me was a typo in the subtitles that omitted the "L" in "public".