Flix99.com

15 Cartoons Calling for CGI/Live-Action Treatment
Yes, they are all bad ideas (except the last one). But with a CGI/live-action Smurfs movie on the way, we must get used to bad ideas like these.

I don’t know what is the worse idea, an all-CGI 3-D Smurfs movie, as Paramount had planned, or a CGI/live-action mix, as Sony Animation is now planning for our beloved blue communists friends. I guess if we only think back to Alvin and the Chipmunks and Underdog, it’s easy to think Sony’s new plan for The Smurfs is a terrible idea. But I think the second Scooby-Doo movie worked pretty well as far as cartoon adaptations go, and there’s a chance Hollywood could do a good job again, despite the majority (including Garfield: The Movie, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, the first Scooby-Doo) being on the bad side.

That said, I’m still no fan of the trend. However, if it must continue, I think it would be interesting to see any of the following 15 animated series, all of which feature the necessary mix of talking animals (or inanimate objects) and humans, turned into live-action movies with CGI characters:

1. The Yogi Bear Show - I feel it’s inevitable that we’ll be seeing this one soon enough. And if Hollywood is feeling lazy enough, the plot can be a remake of the animated feature Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear! Steve Carell will play Ranger Smith, of course.
2. Help!…It’s the Hair Bear Bunch! - Few people remember this Yogi Bear-like series starring three hippie bears, one of whom had a straggly afro. The movie would involve the usual plot in which the bears escape from the zoo and are chased by the human zoo-keeper and his fat assistant. I’d love to see the sweet production design that goes into the bear’s bachelor pad cave. And aside from the fact that CGI bears would make the invisible motorcycle easier to work with, live-action bears have been proven to be a much worse idea (see The Country Bears).
3. The Great Grape Ape Show - This would be kinda like Peter Jackson’s King Kong, only without the intention of making the CGI look realistic. I’m not sure what the plot would be, but going with the King Kong idea, they could probably just have Grape Ape and Beagle Beagle visit New York (or another city) to allow for plenty of accidental destruction (isn’t that the only reason Transformers‘ last act was in a city?).
4. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - It’s like Scooby-Doo but with a caveman instead of a talking dog. They could probably just have a guy dressed up in a very hairy costume for the prehistoric superhero, but as long as CGI characters are bringing Hollywood so much dough, they might as well render him on a computer, too.
5. Speed Buggy - It’s like Scooby-Doo but with a talking car instead of a talking dog. And I bet audiences will be more comfortable with a CGI talking car than with a CGI talking dog.
6. Dynomutt, Dog Wonder - It’s like Scooby-Doo but with superheroes. Hey, I hear superheroes are big at the box office this century. Actually, I’m really, really surprised we haven’t heard about this one yet.
7. Jabberjaw - It’s like Scooby-Doo but with…. wait, I’m starting to see that most of these Hanna Barbera cartoons are a lot alike. But even more than Scooby-Doo, this would be like the live-action Josie and the Pussycats, except with the benefit of having a CGI shark who plays drums for the group. Because most of the action would take place under the sea, there’s a good chance this would be too expensive to produce.
8. Fangface - It’s like Scooby-Doo but not made by Hanna Barbera (however, it was produced by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, who also created Captain Caveman, Jabberjaw, Dynomutt and others on this list). Instead of a talking dog, here one of the mystery-solving teens is a werewolf. And despite everyone’s love for Lon Chaney Jr. and the Teen Wolf movies, Hollywood can rarely make a werewolf these days without CGI.
9. It’s Punky Brewster - They could always just base a movie off the original sitcom (though I doubt they ever would), but wouldn’t it be much cuter if there was a CGI character? Fortunately the cartoon series had that leprechaun-gopher thing named “Glomer.”
10. Snorks - I guess there were no humans in this cartoon, but knowing Hollywood’s ability to mess with things, some could surely be added. Either the Snorks somehow venture out of the sea or a friendly scuba diving kid finds them. Though for the latter, the budget could be too high. I wonder if the Snorks could survive out of water…
11. Ghostbusters - Would be allowed for there to be a feature film version of Filmation’s Ghostbusters — you know, the one that wasn’t based on the REAL Ghostbusters? The one that was actually based on a TV series that came before the movie Ghostbusters? Hmm. I guess this one should really go in the list of live-action series calling for CGI/live-action treatment (like ALF…)
12. The Archie Show - Obviously this one could be completely live-action. But that’s no fun. And that TV movie from 1990 was extremely disappointing. Solution: CGI Jughead!
13. Rainbow Brite - Hey, I really liked Rainbow Brite when I was a kid. Is that OK to admit yet? I may have even wanted a plush toy of Twink. Or maybe I did have a plush toy of Twink. Either way, I’d be the first heterosexual male in line at the theater for this one.
14. Rugrats - This one will only be kinda CGI. It can star real kids with CGI mouths, like what they do with animals in the Babe and Dr. Dolittle movies. Oh yeah, and what they do with babies in the Baby Geniuses movies. Of course, the animated Rugrats movies each made significantly more money than the Baby Geniuses movies, so anyone who’d actually take on this idea is an idiot.
15. The Herculoids - I really don’t care if they make it all CGI, mixed CGI/live-action, all 2D animation, or what; all I care about is that I get to see Tundro on the big screen one day before I die. Back when I saw Jurassic Park for the first time, I thought the triceratops was really lame. But it wasn’t because it was obviously animatronic. It was because it couldn’t shoot rocks out of its horn like Tundro. The rest of the Herculoids, especially Igoo and Gloop & Gleep, would also be awesome to see in a movie. In fact, to be honest, I mostly just made this list in order to profess my desire for a Herculoids movie.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com

2008’s Summer of Superheroes: One Writer’s Early Take
There are some things you just have to see for yourself whether expectations are great or meager when it comes to movies. Especially summer movies. Last year, when it was announced that 2008 would be the summer of Superheroes; Batman, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hancock and even Indiana Jones (hey, if surviving the Temple of […]

There are some things you just have to see for yourself whether expectations are great or meager when it comes to movies. Especially summer movies. Last year, when it was announced that 2008 would be the summer of Superheroes; Batman, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hancock and even Indiana Jones (hey, if surviving the Temple of Doom and beating down the Nazis isn’t super, what is?). I was underwhelmed.

Batman in the “The Dark Knight” of course. I wouldn’t have to see one trailer, just give me a release date and I was there. The others? Uh. Why are they doing it to themselves? I thought that in no way would any other hero film be able to compete with Bats at the box office or even in the quality of the product. So much for that. “Iron Man” and “Indiana Jones” both are mega hits despite mixed reviews for one of them (hint: the one I’m referring to wears a hat and rhymes with Shindianna’s Bones). The other night, I caught a early screening of “The Incredible Hulk”. I won’t spoil it for you right now, but below, I’ll give you a brief breakdown of my experiences of my recent run-ins the guys who save the day.

“Iron Man”

Going in: “Ehh.”

I never was a fan of the comic book or cartoon. Tony Stark’s goatee always looked hilarious to me. Almost like some sort of pirate. I will say that the initial trailers did warm me up enough to even take time out to go see the movie although it looked a little too kiddie.

Coming Out: (An enthusiastic) “Damn!”

Tony Stark is probably the first alter ego that is equally as exciting as his Superhero alias. Robert Downey’s swagger was on 10 and the action filled my popcorn flick quota (which is pretty high mind you). I saw “Iron Man” at a screening and enjoyed it so much that I paid to see it a second time, taking my family on take two. I could have went without my mom telling me how handsome Terrence Howard was and later asking if he was going to die…twice…for both.

“Indiana Jones”

Going In: “This really can’t be as bad as everybody says it is … can it?”

I saw Indy a little late. I caught it the Sunday after it came out. All my friends that went to the theaters on Friday and Saturday warned me that it was laughably bad! I couldn’t take their words for it. They were surely being harsh critics. No way the filmmakers were going to make us wait almost 20 years and not deliver a quality night at the flicks…especially on Memorial Day weekend.

Coming Out: “Well. We made it through without falling asleep.”

The flying refrigerator should have warned me to make a swift exit out of the theater and sneak into to “Forgetting Sarah Marshal” but I held out hope that Mr. Jones would finish strong all the way up until I saw his love child “Mutt” ( I can’t wait to hear what his daughter’s name would be) swinging from vine to vine like Tarzan only to start swash buckling. And when Indiana and his family started descending down the waterfalls, I could have sworn I saw Henry Winkler on jet skis in the vicinity. Ouch!

“The Incredible Hulk”

Going In: “At least it’s not a root canal. Let’s try it. Maybe I’ll be surprised.”

I still have nightmares about Ang Lee’s theatrical version of Mean Green. It was horrible. Horrible to the extent that I get angry sometimes thinking of how he almost ruined…no he did ruin the franchise. So when Marvel announced they were going to try and resurrect it, my expectations were not even low, they were non-existent. But leave it to me to get reeled in by Marvel’s hype machine. Even though I thought they still messed up Hulk’s look, judging from the commercials, I started coming around to tempting fate’s cruel hand again. Maybe I could rekindle the fond memories I had of watching Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno every Friday night before “The Dukes of Hazard.”

Coming Out: “I can’t believe they did it!”

It was almost that surreal feeling of glee like watching David Tyree of the Giants make that helmet catch in the Super Bowl. “Did I just see what I thought? That was amazing.” Two for two! Marvel are making comic book flicks smarter by tying multiple franchises into each other and by just giving the people what they want, several elongated action sequences! My brother Ari says the finale of the movie is the best fight he’s seen in a Superhero movie ever. Ummmm. I won’t jump out of the window that far, but honestly, “The Hulk” impressed me. So much so, I’ll be paying to see it again this weekend.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com

Tags: future dvd release dates, free adult movies, downloadable movie trailers, lesbian movies, sperm shack movies