My flippant summation of the difference between the original Piranha and this remake is "the 1978 movie was a film about killer fish that had occasional nudity; this is a film about nudity that has occasional killer fish".
Now as I said, that's being flippant, and it definitely sells short the killer fish in this film: they'll claim a pretty hefty body toll by the time the movie is over. But it is definitely true that the original film focused on being a Jaws knockoff, while this film focuses on being sleazy and schlocky. I'm pretty sure the ease with which you can have women in (or out of) bikinis in a movie about killer fish is the main reason that they chose to remake Piranha rather than say Grizzly.
Lake Victoria is a popular spring break destination for college kids looking for sun, sex and insobriety. Unfortunately, thanks to an earth tremor opening up an entrance to a long-sealed underwater cave, it is about to have a swarm of very unwelcome visitors.
And that, honestly, is pretty much the entire premise. There's lots more plot, of course: a prospective romance between two characters, some family drama, several opportunities for amusing cameos, many many opportunities for nudity, and so on. But the premise? The premise is "Spring Break with Killer Fish". And that's a perfectly cromulent premise: it worked for Jaws, after all.
If you're the kind of person who giggles like a loon when you realise that the piranha's first victim is going to be Richard Dreyfuss - in other words, a person like me - this is a fun, if very sleazy and silly, film with which to spend some time.
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