Well, The Jungle Book is out, and Disney did a pretty good job with it, so what other movie would you like to see turned live action? Okay, so, I admit, probably should have had an "abstain" option, but, I guess, in that case, which movie would you least hate to see adapted into live action? Because they'll probably do it, anyway. Couple absences to note; I skipped movies that already have a Disney live action adaptation (Alice in Wonderland, One Hundred and One Dalmations, Cinderella), or that have a live action adaptation announced (Dumbo, and I probably wouldn't have added Beauty and the Beast, anyway, but Beauty and the Beast), feature fully anthropomorphic worlds (Robin Hood, Chicken Little and Zootopia, because what would be the point?), any of Disney's anthology movies (duh), and The Rescuers Down Under, because, I don't know, maybe should do The Rescuers first.
Anyway, that's the poll, but I'd also like to add that I don't think anyone called The Jungle Book, so it's open to review (please remind me if that's not the case); however, I've seen it, and am planning on writing a review (maybe out Wednesday?), so if you want a go at it, go now (and it does not have the Zootopia "I'll let anyone and everyone have a shot at it caveat," so it's going to be first come, first serve).
Last week's poll saw DreamWorks animation come through; I'm guessing they have more experience with furry characters, with their Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar franchises, plus more stand-alone furry movies than Pixar and Disney's recent output (and those two probably happily tied for second).
If you're excluding those that already have live-action versions, then The Lion King is a bit tenuous on account of the Broadway musical, though admittedly that version of the story hasn't been released as a film.
Back about 1996 when there was first talk of producing a stage version of The Lion King, there was a lot of skepticism among fans over whether they could pull it off well and not have it end up all smarmy and falling flat. Director Julie Taymor gave the stage version a whole new look and feel that proved to be a roaring success (no pun intended). Taymor went on to direct Across the Universe, in which at various points I could see stylistic similarity to her work on The Lion King.
This, and the positive reviews of The Jungle Book, shows that Disney can make an animated animal film work in live action at least some of the time, even if they've been known to botch it (101 Dalmatians; see my other comment).
By the way, I actually feel like explaining my vote this week; I voted The Rescuers because I feel like it could be a more honest adaptation of Marjory Sharp's novel(s). Setting aside The Rescuers' gorgeous introduction of the character, I feel like the Disney movies don't really do Miss Bianca's character justice (and that it was a mistake to make Bernard the protagonist, instead of her), though I wouldn't mind if she kept her Hungarian accent.
If that's your sole criteria, then Lady and the Tramp would be the obvious choice.
Arguably, 101 Dalmatians has more canine screen time, but of course it already has a live-action remake. The 1961 animated feature remains near the top of my favorites list, but after sitting through the 1996 live-action version once I couldn't believe they had turned the story into such an utter piece of garbage, so any vote I cast will be tempered by the fear they may screw it up just as badly. I haven't seen the new Jungle Book yet but I've been hearing good things about it, so maybe Disney can do it right.
Lady and the Tramp would probably be second choice, because it's a great movie that I can see not hating a live action update. Of course, I could also see myself hating it a lot.
I am not much in favor for live-action animal movies (does The Jungle Book still count if the poor actor was just surrounded by greenscreens, awaiting the animation of some animals and lots of lush jungle?) but for the pure bizarreness of the idea, I'd vote for Home on the Range (good luck getting cows to act, oh wait they'll be computer-generated too) or The Princess and the Frog (come on, real frogs for a change!).
Ah well, Bolt may actually be the least terrible choice. I'd still not pay to watch it.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
At first I considered voting for Rescuers, that being one of my favorite FILMS of all time. (And could you just imagine someone like Meryl Streep as Madame Medusa? Oy!) But in the end I voted for Brother Bear. It's ANOTHER one of my favorites, plus it has enough interesting human stuff AND interesting animal stuff going on to justify this kind of thing, I think.
I was going to go with the The Great Mouse Detective initially, but ultimately decided that The Rescuers would be a more likely pick for Disney to remake, as the ones from their vault made thus far have had some live-action human character to it. I always enjoyed the animated films with rodent protagonists the most, and even had a mouse fursona for many years before switching to avain, so that influenced my decision.
Also, I always thought of Medusa as one of Disney's scariest and most under-appreciated villains. Unlike other villains who exist mostly in fantasy realms with magic at their disposal, Medusa felt like the kind of real world parent-figure that one might see on the 6 o'clock news for endangering children in her care. Her face alone is scary, with her make-up accentuating her wicked expressions. The callousness in which she exploits Penny's small frame to retrieve the diamond in the tight cave is a terrifying scenario. Translating that into live action would need to be handled with a bit of levity or risk the film too dark for youngest viewers.
I can also see Disney re-focusing the story in making the movie from Penny's point-of-view, with the mice her co-stars once they entered the picture.
I don't know how well any of these would really work, what lets Jungle Book work is that the animals really aren't that anthropomorphic. Having to go too hard with CGI may just ruin a movie, and some of these I think would come across more Garfield than Jungle Book.
Comments
Well, The Jungle Book is out, and Disney did a pretty good job with it, so what other movie would you like to see turned live action? Okay, so, I admit, probably should have had an "abstain" option, but, I guess, in that case, which movie would you least hate to see adapted into live action? Because they'll probably do it, anyway. Couple absences to note; I skipped movies that already have a Disney live action adaptation (Alice in Wonderland, One Hundred and One Dalmations, Cinderella), or that have a live action adaptation announced (Dumbo, and I probably wouldn't have added Beauty and the Beast, anyway, but Beauty and the Beast), feature fully anthropomorphic worlds (Robin Hood, Chicken Little and Zootopia, because what would be the point?), any of Disney's anthology movies (duh), and The Rescuers Down Under, because, I don't know, maybe should do The Rescuers first.
Anyway, that's the poll, but I'd also like to add that I don't think anyone called The Jungle Book, so it's open to review (please remind me if that's not the case); however, I've seen it, and am planning on writing a review (maybe out Wednesday?), so if you want a go at it, go now (and it does not have the Zootopia "I'll let anyone and everyone have a shot at it caveat," so it's going to be first come, first serve).
Last week's poll saw DreamWorks animation come through; I'm guessing they have more experience with furry characters, with their Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar franchises, plus more stand-alone furry movies than Pixar and Disney's recent output (and those two probably happily tied for second).
If you're excluding those that already have live-action versions, then The Lion King is a bit tenuous on account of the Broadway musical, though admittedly that version of the story hasn't been released as a film.
Back about 1996 when there was first talk of producing a stage version of The Lion King, there was a lot of skepticism among fans over whether they could pull it off well and not have it end up all smarmy and falling flat. Director Julie Taymor gave the stage version a whole new look and feel that proved to be a roaring success (no pun intended). Taymor went on to direct Across the Universe, in which at various points I could see stylistic similarity to her work on The Lion King.
This, and the positive reviews of The Jungle Book, shows that Disney can make an animated animal film work in live action at least some of the time, even if they've been known to botch it (101 Dalmatians; see my other comment).
By the way, I actually feel like explaining my vote this week; I voted The Rescuers because I feel like it could be a more honest adaptation of Marjory Sharp's novel(s). Setting aside The Rescuers' gorgeous introduction of the character, I feel like the Disney movies don't really do Miss Bianca's character justice (and that it was a mistake to make Bernard the protagonist, instead of her), though I wouldn't mind if she kept her Hungarian accent.
They should do next the one with the most screen time for canines
If that's your sole criteria, then Lady and the Tramp would be the obvious choice.
Arguably, 101 Dalmatians has more canine screen time, but of course it already has a live-action remake. The 1961 animated feature remains near the top of my favorites list, but after sitting through the 1996 live-action version once I couldn't believe they had turned the story into such an utter piece of garbage, so any vote I cast will be tempered by the fear they may screw it up just as badly. I haven't seen the new Jungle Book yet but I've been hearing good things about it, so maybe Disney can do it right.
Lady and the Tramp would probably be second choice, because it's a great movie that I can see not hating a live action update. Of course, I could also see myself hating it a lot.
I am not much in favor for live-action animal movies (does The Jungle Book still count if the poor actor was just surrounded by greenscreens, awaiting the animation of some animals and lots of lush jungle?) but for the pure bizarreness of the idea, I'd vote for Home on the Range (good luck getting cows to act, oh wait they'll be computer-generated too) or The Princess and the Frog (come on, real frogs for a change!).
Ah well, Bolt may actually be the least terrible choice. I'd still not pay to watch it.
None... none of them. Make something new.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
That's the answer.
At first I considered voting for Rescuers, that being one of my favorite FILMS of all time. (And could you just imagine someone like Meryl Streep as Madame Medusa? Oy!) But in the end I voted for Brother Bear. It's ANOTHER one of my favorites, plus it has enough interesting human stuff AND interesting animal stuff going on to justify this kind of thing, I think.
I was going to go with the The Great Mouse Detective initially, but ultimately decided that The Rescuers would be a more likely pick for Disney to remake, as the ones from their vault made thus far have had some live-action human character to it. I always enjoyed the animated films with rodent protagonists the most, and even had a mouse fursona for many years before switching to avain, so that influenced my decision.
Also, I always thought of Medusa as one of Disney's scariest and most under-appreciated villains. Unlike other villains who exist mostly in fantasy realms with magic at their disposal, Medusa felt like the kind of real world parent-figure that one might see on the 6 o'clock news for endangering children in her care. Her face alone is scary, with her make-up accentuating her wicked expressions. The callousness in which she exploits Penny's small frame to retrieve the diamond in the tight cave is a terrifying scenario. Translating that into live action would need to be handled with a bit of levity or risk the film too dark for youngest viewers.
I can also see Disney re-focusing the story in making the movie from Penny's point-of-view, with the mice her co-stars once they entered the picture.
If we included non-Disney movies then Secret of NIMH would be interesting... plus it does have that one avian character :)
Avian? You mean that turkey Jeremy? er... I meant crow. ;)
I don't know how well any of these would really work, what lets Jungle Book work is that the animals really aren't that anthropomorphic. Having to go too hard with CGI may just ruin a movie, and some of these I think would come across more Garfield than Jungle Book.
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