The version currently available on Roku isn't the original. This version has a completely different musical score, which makes it like a Hallmark movie. In the opening credits, they removed the "It's", so it's just "A Wonderful Life", they changed the composer of the musical score and it also says it's based on a story by Charles Dickens instead of Philip Van Doren Stern.
I hope Roku corrects this and puts the original version up.
Totally agree! I saw the difference when the title came up and I watched it for about 5 minutes when I turned it off and found the original classic. Do NOT mess with a classic.
So strange how these somewhat small changes to the original, in particular the music, upset the continuity of the film. I too had to turn it off because of the music and pulled my DVD out to watch it in its correct format.
Thank goodness I have a copy both in VHS and DVD to fall back on.
I’m almost afraid to watch The Bishops Wife with Cary Grant.
Christmas DVDs here I come.
One more thing How did I wind up with a PIG 🐽 next to my name!! 🤣
Hi, Mmmle
Congrats on your first post here in the Roku Community.
This concern has been acknowledged, and we have passed this information to the appropriate Roku team, who will be handling this further to address it. Rest assured that an update will be provided to them.
If you have further concerns or inquiries, please feel free to reach out to us. It's our pleasure to assist.
All the best,
Kash
Why in the world would someone mess with a classic movie. Our whole family gathered to watch this and we had to shut it off. Just ludicrous.
Where were you able to find the original? We checked every free option and all of them had this abomination. We’d be happy to rent it if we could be assured it’s not this fakery!
Download Christmas plus. You have to sit through commercials but that doesn’t bother me.
I completely agree. It’s a wonderful life is my favourite movie and I hope they put the music back to the original. When George goes to visit Mary’s house, she plays some song on her record player when it should’ve been “Buffalo Gal”. This definitely needs to be corrected because the whole of their relationship was based on the bond they shared from singing together after they fell in the pool. I started watching but can’t get into it because the difference is deafening to me.
I noticed this as well and had to do a Google search to see what was going on. Glad I found this thread and that I'm not the only one who found this annoying. I hope Roku fixes it and adds the real movie.
We watched this last night on Roku. Although I didn’t notice the opening credits, or the “Based on a Story by Charles Dickens 😂😂😂” bit, I immediately noticed the music changes as they occurred one after the other. In an attempt to modernize this movie classic, the producers of this “fake film” have ruined the original score to the point of changing what makes older movies so desirable, especially this one. I first saw IWL with my then boyfriend at his parents house in 1983 at Christmas in NJ. I had such fond movies of watching this with him while decorating the tree on Christmas Eve (don’t ask….its a tradition at his house). We’ve watched this movie every year as husband and wife for 40 years. It’s our favorite holiday movie. I’ve done radio broadcasts using the scene of the run on the bank to explain the banking system to listeners. And even that was ruined because they added music where there was none. Although you may think that the music in this film means nothing, it does mean everything to the millions of viewer of this film that Frank Capra so eloquently put together in 1946. I do not believe that Frank Capra nor his heirs gave any approval to change the original version of this movie. To whomever changed this original score by Dimitri Tiomkin, may you get sued by someone, anyone who believes in artistic integrity. All I can say is what we say in the south when someone does something stupid …”BLESS YOUR HEART”!!!
We are getting into a very dangerous habit these days of digitally changing films, books, vocal recordings using AI to do so. If we do not refuse this horrible practice, we will soon be out of good, wholesome entertainment that was produced in good spirit of humanity. We will forever be stuck in a world where DEI is being forced down our throats in every book, every magazine, every digital copy of every form of media we have, on our Television sets, on our radios, on our computers, and on our smart phone devices. If we don’t push back now, we are going to be forced to live in a world without the goodness and light in our fellow man. #it’sawonderfullife #christmas #classicmovies #holiday
Welker Everything you said is absolutely correct! Changing classics is shameful! I believe this is one of the major drawbacks of digital videos. Eventually replacing physical media completely which will mean the only way you can view something is digital streams, which can be altered at anytime without your consent.
Even if you "purchase" a video you don't really own it because the studio that licenses the streaming videos has the final say on what version you are allowed to stream. This means that any scenes can be changed, music can be replaced, lines can be cut out or changed because somebody today deems the original "too offensive" or "politically incorrect" or maybe because the movie or show expresses an opinion that the ruling political party today doesn't like.
This is why everyone should continue to purchase DVD or blu ray copies of your true favorites so that they can never be altered on you without your permission. All digital files with AI in control of everything as the future is very scary because it means that everything can be reshaped and changed to fit the current agenda being pushed.
When you really think about it this is complete fascism under the guise of political correctness. We need to push back, fake versions of movies like this need to be removed from all sources and legal action needs to be filed to ensure this doesn't happen again.
Restore the original unaltered movie NOW!
We noticed, too! The music, claiming it's based on a story by "Charles Dickens" - we're still watching just to see what else has been substituted in what must be a bootlegged copy.
Hopefully Roku fixes it!
Not done yet. 12-17-2023. Terrible!
If I’m not mistaken some of the smaller characters’ voices are different too.
Just started watching this tonight and it's still not right. For those of us that have been watching this movie for years, these changes are glaring and wrong. I'd like to know what the reasons were for the changes. Messing with such a classic move is horrible and NOT okay.
I just turned it on to watch and noticed immediately! That opening music is so wrong! I had to stop watching and Googled to see what the issue is. That's how I found this thread. Roku should remove the movie as soon as possible.
For anyone who longs to see the original, and doesn't own a copy, stick to NBC. They're airing it at 8:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. I thought they had exclusive rights to it anyway, but obviously there are some "alternate" versions out there. It's a shame that new viewers won't know the difference. Imagine an alternate Wizard of Oz, with different songs and voices. Same concept.
yeah -what were they thinking. This is the worst. Can't get it off my TV fast enough. And it's still not fixed 12-17-2023.
Hi, Edleppard
Greetings and welcome to the Roku Community.
We appreciate you for bringing this to our attention. This information and your concern have been forwarded to the appropriate Roku team, who will investigate and address this issue. Once more details are available, we'll make sure to provide an update.
For the meantime, your patience and understanding would greatly be appreciated as we work on this.
All the best,
Kash
Im watching it now and it’s still not fixed. It just isn’t the same. The musical score needs to be fixed because this movie is too good to have it changed in any way.
still not fixed 12-17-2023
Suffered through Roku's version of "It's a Wonderful Life" because we couldn't get it to stream through properly on an of the other free streaming services, and our DVD player wasn't working (we watch it every year). VERY disappointed in this bogus rendition! The score is totally masked over with garbage that does not fit the original at all! Even the voices of the actors have been changed, even silenced because some idiot decided to change the entire soundtrack. This detracted from the experience of the movie immeasurably. Somebody should be sued. I won't be coming back to Roku anytime soon. Btw, we made sure to mute and ignore the ads, so you won't get anything out of us there.
RokuTakashi Are you guys able to fix this? Thank you!
