[film and literature] why later editions often don't work

My favourite Holmes is the Bruce-Partington plans, with dialogue like this:

"Why had he no ticket?"

"The ticket would have shown which station was nearest the agent's house. Therefore he took it from the murdered man's pocket."

"Good, Lestrade, very good," said Holmes. "Your theory holds together. But if this is true, then the case is at an end. On the one hand, the traitor is dead. On the other, the plans of the Bruce-Partington submarine are presumably already on the Continent. What is there for us to do?"

"To act, Sherlock — to act!" cried Mycroft, springing to his feet. "All my instincts are against this explanation. Use your powers! Go to the scene of the crime! See the people concerned! Leave no stone unturned! In all your career you have never had so great a chance of serving your country."

"Well, well!" said Holmes, shrugging his shoulders. "Come, Watson! And you, Lestrade, could you favor us with your company for an hour or two? We will begin our investigation by a visit to Aldgate Station. Good-bye, Mycroft. I shall let you have a report before evening, but I warn you in advance that you have little to expect."

It's very difficult to say why that story is so engaging and yet one like the Mazarin Stone is dire:

"It all seems very unchanged, Billy. You don't change, either. I hope the same can be said of him?"

Billy glanced with some solicitude at the closed door of the bedroom.

"I think he's in bed and asleep," he said.

It was seven in the evening of a lovely summer's day, but Dr. Watson was sufficiently familiar with the irregularity of his old friend's hours to feel no surprise at the idea.

"That means a case, I suppose?"

then later:

"What's the game now, Count? What's this fellow want? What's up?" His voice was deep and raucous.

The Count shrugged his shoulders, and it was Holmes who answered.

"If I may put it in a nutshell, Mr. Merton, I should say it was all up."

The boxer still addressed his remarks to his associate.

"Is this cove trying to be funny, or what? I'm not in the funny mood myself."

I can't identify precisely why - the dialogue, the abrupt ends to lines, whatever - it points to a Conan Doyle who seems to have lost interest.

In a similar way but in a different medium and different genre, the original of the sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still had tension to it - for example, when the initially unbelieving mother is co-opted by the alien and is then charged that, if something should happen to him, she must go to the robot and utter certain words in order to stop the robot from devastating every living thing. - one needs to make allowances for the age of the film, of course:





The current remake is slick, the sfx are 21st century but by all accounts, the film, as a whole, is seriously lacking. What is it? The lack of chemistry? The presence of "stars" who are "acting" when the original had ordinary characters who were for real?

Maybe we just want the characters to be for real, to be plausible, to be engaged with the plot.