'Footloose:' Julianne Hough, Kenny Wormald Defend Remake Against Critics

The stars of Footloose are defending their remake before it hits theaters domestically on Friday. (It opened internationally to $1.2 million.)

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"[People] think that it's going to be a dance movie, which it's really not — the original was a drama with dancing in it — but also that it's a remake that's going to suck, because a lot of remakes kind of, you know, butcher the original one," Julianne Hough, who plays Ariel Moore in the film, tells MTV News. "Those are the two misconceptions. One, it's not a dance movie, and two, I think we really did it justice and made it our own but kept what needed to be there."

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Kenny Wormald -- a former Justin Timberlake backup dancer who plays Ren MacCormack (the role that made Kevin Bacon a star) -- tells About.com, "If you're a fan of the original, you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to check this one out because we all as huge fans of the movie, top to bottom, cast, crew, catering, everyone on set was in love with the original."

"We all made sure to not mess it up and I think we revisit a lot of the same emotions but also bring it in a new light without straying too far from the original. If you're wary, the only way to judge it is to see it and then judge it. I recommend everyone check it out," he added.

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Ziah Colon, who plays Rusty, tells MTV News he's been reading the criticism online: "I've seen on Twitter a lot that 'Patrick Swayze would be upset' that we're remaking it. I'd like to tell everyone that he wasn't in the original, and if you are upset about that, you probably should not be upset that we are remaking it, because you know nothing about it."

"I think that there is a lot of misinformation, and then there are people that are upset that it's too similar and there are people that are upset that it's not similar enough," Colon continues.

Promises co-star Miles Tiller: "We're not gonna take your childhood dreams and just, like, wring them of any importance. We understand that it's a very important film for people and that some of them saw it at an age where it really spoke to them. We're just trying to give a new generation of fans this story. So you should be OK with that."

Adds Hough: "It's a fun movie. Go watch it. Have fun!"