When popular films from the past are remade, appropriate updates are made to reflect the vision of the director as well as the changing times and sensibilities of the viewer while retaining the spirit of the original that made it work in the first place. But director Thiagarajan, who gives us Mambattiyan, an updated version of his 80s hit Malaiyur Mambattiyan, with his son Prashanth in the lead, makes no changes to the original apart from the cast. This makes the film feel unnecessary.

When the landlord Sundaralingam(Kota Srinivasa Rao) kills his parents for handing over the buried treasure they found on his land to the police, Mambattiyan(Prashanth) kills Sundaralingam and his men and escapes to the forest with his brother Oomaiyan and a few others. From there he turns into the local Robinhood, robbing from the rich to give to the poor. IG Ranjith(Prakash Raj) is tasked with finding Mambattiyan but its no easy task. During an attack on a wedding party, Mambattiyan meets Kannatha(Meera Jasmine), who grows to like him while the village dancer Sornam(Mumaith Khan) also has a soft spot for him.

Maybe because the Robinhood story is universal and timeless, Thiagarajan hasn't felt the need to alter Malaiyur Mambattiyan much. So we pretty much get a repeat of the story(from the reason for Prashanth turning into Robinhood right upto the final betrayal) as well as inidividual scenes(like Prashanth's mode of escape when he is strung upside down in a closed room). Surprisingly, the story still holds our interest since it has elements like action, romance and suspense that help maintain a good pace and the scenes still manage to work in spite of - or maybe because of - nostalgia.

Prashanth's initial attack is motivated by revenge and barring robbing and distributing bags of grain(which gets the recipients into trouble anyway) once, we never see him actually doing things for the villagers. And after Kota is killed, there doesn't seem to be anyone else troubling the villagers for Prashanth to stand up against. There are enough camera angles and slo-mo shots to emphasize his larger-than-life image among the villagers but it isn't conveyed by the screenplay.

Though Prashanth isn't shown helping the villagers much, he does have enough to do as he spends his time being wooed/seduced by Meera Jasmine and Mumaith Khan, running away from the police and fighting an impostor. Out of these, the romances are routine(though its nice that Meera Jasmine is given a strong character) and the episode with the impostor is rather amateurish. The police chase is interesting(the segment where Prashanth rescues the villagers is a good one) but the lack of empathy with the lead character ensures that there is not much suspense or emotions as the police close in on Prashanth.

Prashanth looks a bit flabby and though he struggles with getting the emotions right in serious scenes, the effort he has put in shows in the action sequences. Meera Jasmine impresses when she questions the man who abandoned her but then mellows down as she pines for Prashanth. Prakash Raj fits nicely into the police uniform though he is always one step behind while Mumaith Khan tries to act too in addition to her usual item number. Vadivelu, making an appearance after a long break, raises a few laughs. Simbhu renders the remix of Kaattu Vazhi... with enthusiasm but none of the other numbers make much of an impression. Shaji Kumar's camera captures the action amidst some very beautiful locales.