Do you ever sit down to watch one of your kids’ animated movies and play that game where you try to figure out who’s voicing each character? You know it’s someone famous but you just can’t quite put your finger on it? And when you just can’t take it anymore, you reach for your laptop and hit IMDB.com to figure out whose voice you’ve been listening to before it drives you crazy? I do.
It’s no secret that I am a Scooby-Doo fan and so are my kids. We religiously watch Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo – well you get the picture. When I heard they were making a live action version of the animated series I was a bit sceptical. Normally when live action movies are made of beloved cartoons the results are less than stellar. Fortunately for me I thought the Scooby-Doo movies were an exception to this rule.
When you have four kids it’s often hard to find one thing all of them will agree upon. Whether it’s what to serve for dinner, what time to go to bed, what park to visit, or most importantly, what to watch on television. My oldest will complain the shows are too ‘baby-ish’, while the youngest will moan that a show is too ‘boring’. But there is one show that all of them agree upon and that is Scooby Doo.
Normally I find myself eagerly anticipating the Easter weekend. The first long weekend of spring, it means the kids are able to run and play outside for much of the four days. And with the sun shining, the parks clean and dry and the kids happily anticipating the arrival of the Easter bunny (and the copious amounts of chocolate the bunny brings) it means I can do my ‘Easter bunny prep’ while the kids are outside enjoying the nice weather.
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;
March Break – two words that strike fear and dread into the hearts of most parents! Aw c’mon, you know it’s true! I drive my kids to school on snow days because the thought of them being home together all day makes my head spin. So, if you’re not one of the lucky ones who get to go away for March Break the key to a successful and fight free ‘stay-cation’ is to have a plan.
The business of animation is much different now than it was when I was little. Heck it’s different now than it was 15 years ago. In the last decade or so, animation has become huge business, with studios like Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks basically re-writing the future of the animated movie. The studios have raised the stakes with animated feature films by ensuring they not only appeal to kids but to parents as well. But engaging the parents is where it gets tricky.
