Why does one version make me smile but not the other?
The "original" (1895) seems much more static. While the camera placement in both versions is still, the action in the 1896 version seems more natural. There is a sense of pleasure and anticipation as we see the boy creep up behind the bush. He seems to be enjoying himself. There is a better sense of who the characters are in the 1896 one (and I do think they can be considered characters). The second one offers the gardener better revenge, as other people mentioned, giving the boy "a taste of his own medicine."
Maybe it's too early in cinema history to bring up the issue of authorship, but if the later version truly was directed by Alice Guy then the changes/differences between the two films could be representative of the different perspectives of the directors themselves. The choice to change the gardener's revenge from spanking to spraying results in a less violent action that adds more humor to the situation.
