Animated To Live Action

Cartoons – they’re a staple of childhood. For years Hollywood has been trying to capitalize on the appeal of cartoons by remaking some of the most popular ones into live action feature films. This isn’t an easy task by any means, because so much of the appeal of a cartoon is the fact that it’s based on a world of fantasy, and that world doesn’t always translate well into live action. Sometimes the live action adaptation is good, and sometimes it’s bad, but there are some movies that have done a great job of bridging the cartoon to live action genre. Here are some of my favourites;

Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed – The Scooby Doo franchise is a big favourite in my house with my kids loving the show as much as my husband and I did growing up. We watch the old school ‘Scooby Doo – Where Are You’ on TELETOON Retro and the newly revamped ‘What’s New Scooby Doo’ on TELETOON almost daily. When Hollywood decided to make a live action version I was a bit skeptical. I mean, it’s a story about a talking dog after all! But much to my surprise I really enjoyed both the Scooby Doo movies, as did my kids. The studio did a great job of staying true to the original idea behind the cartoon and didn’t change the characters for the sake of the movies.

Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – About a year ago while visiting my parent’s house my mother gave my nephew a Transformer action figure. But this wasn’t one of the new ones; this was one that my 43 year old brother had when he was a kid! That’s how long Transformers have been around – so you know that the concept for a hit movie was there. Both Transformers movies were awesome action flicks that once again stayed true to the original premise and even improved on it. And I will honestly say that I can’t wait for the latest sequel to hit theatres this summer.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel - When I was little my Alvin and the Chipmunks album was one of my favorites. I missed seeing the first live action remake but did catch ‘The Squeakquel’ in the theatres with my family. Again, I think the secret to a good cartoon to live action transition is making sure that the characters stay as true to form as they were originally written. Alvin, Simon and Theodore have now had the same personalities for the last 30 years. It’s what we love about them.

Inspector Gadget - The original animated series has been around since the early ‘80’s, but in 1999 Hollywood decided to try its hand at a live action version starring Matthew Broderick as the Inspector and Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw. While the animated series was always funny and light, the movie version was a bit too dark. The movie actually did pretty good at the box office and was a decent adaptation, but sometimes cartoons are better left as cartoons.

In 2005 a new animated movie, Inspector Gadget: Biggest Caper Ever, was released, allowing our kids to enjoy one of the shows that we grew up with in the way that it should be – in its animated form. TELETOON Retro will be airing Inspector Gadget: Biggest Caper Ever on Friday April 1st as their Retro Big Ticket Movie if you want to check it out with your kids.

I’m curious what you think about cartoons being remade as live action feature films – good idea, or bad? Can you think of any good ones that I missed?

Scene and Heard
Confessions From A Pop Culture Mummy

More upcoming TELETOON Retro Big Ticket Movies on
Fridays at 7pm ET:

- April 8: Casper Scare School
- April 15: Dark Crystal
- April 22: Looney, Looney, Looney, Bugs
- April 29: Inspector Gadget: Biggest Caper
- May 6: Flintstones Meet the Jetsons
- May 13: Captain America