Remember Fraggle Rock? I didn't watch a lot of it as a kid, because it was on cable and we didn't have cable. But there was this video compilation I used to watch a lot.
Anyway, apparently the Weinstein Company is making a live-action movie musical based on the TV show. They said they aren't going to deviate from the format a lot -- but I wonder, since it's live-action, if that means they are going to use puppets or grown men in mascot outfits?
I'm not sure how I feel about this trend of turning old kid's shows into movies. Scooby-Doo 1 and 2 were, in my opinion, sort of unwatchable. Rocky & Bullwinkle and Garfield made me want to tear my eyes out. And the jury is still out on Speed Racer, but it's not breaking any records.
What do you think? Is Hollywood sucking our childhood memories dry?
But...but Fraggle Rock (AND the Muppets) WERE live action! It wasn't animated, those were real people with their hands up those fuzzy mitts.
ReplyDeleteSheesh.
Because children's movies featuring people using fuzzy mitts instead of CGI/computer animation are so commonplace these days.
ReplyDeleteWell, besides the latest Hensonless Muppet movies. But let's not talk about those.
I agree with you completely. They really need to leave well enough alone. I understand that they keep trying to introduce these classics to a new generation through movies and tv show remakes, it's a noble effort. When you look at the new generation however, they really don't care. The new generation likes new things. Our generation, in my opinion, really wouldn't care either. I personally get tired of them ruining my childhood memories with these things.
ReplyDeleteFraggle Rock was AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they're puppets I'll be happy. And as long as the lighthouse dog is also a puppet.
And if they could resurrect Fulton Mackay I'd be eternally grateful.
Nobody ever says anything good about Casper. That one always stands out in my mind as the best of the TV-Movie adaptations that I can always recall off the bat. I think there's one more but that one isn't as memorable, apparently.
ReplyDeleteI mean, hell, any movie that gives us a Ghostbuster during the GB3 hell gets major props from me!
But, yeah, Hollywood sucks everything dry. The problem with the adaptations is the simple matter that there's a failure to find a balance within the realms of nostalgia. People try so hard to either exaggerate what came before or duplicate it that they take it TOO far. And then there's just the flat-out disrespect of the original. Of course, those get excused by claiming to just be "parodies," which I believe is code for "we screwed up but you don't need to know that!"
hmm i dont know
ReplyDeleteTransformers was AWESOMENESS... sooo childhood memories aren't always trampled (my childhood anyways).
GI Joe I'm not sure about yet...
And we'll see what they do with the He-Man movie...
Oh and Rainbow Brite... that bitch better not let me down... most gays had Streisand and Bette Midler and Cher... when I was growing up I had her and Starlight, the ultimate queen.
i am oh so very sick of the continued creativity lull in hollywood.
ReplyDeletecreate intelligent stories for kids that are not dumbed down and their parents will have no problem watching without having their own childhood memories being turned into an extremely odd fetishized simulacra.
please stop. now.
I don't mind them doing it, as long as they keep the quality and intelligence level up. And put those Doozers in it. Those guys were cool... building their little crystal cities for reasons known but to themselves.
ReplyDeleteJust keep out the crass. I mean, was it necessary for the Alvin movie to have Alvin eating one of Theodore's turds? They seem to front load these things with crotch-kicks and fart jokes.
They need to sit down and watch the recent Dr. Seuss adaptations and say, "Okay, let's use these as blueprints for what NEVER to do again."
Babe was brilliant children's entertainment, and as such also has adult-appeal. A timeless story. May or may not contain a fart joke or two, can't remember. But it's forgiveable because the movie didn't talk down to its intended audience.
Imagine a Beatrix Potter movie starring Mike Myers... yikes!
Anyway, if they avoid all that, then good, let the cameras roll.
I think someone probably fought long and hard for this idea. It's one of the consequences of people our age finally getting into the upper echelons that we are going to see more and more references to our childhoods. I can't think of another generation before us that was so obsessed with our own nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteIt's not necessarily a bad thing. It's only an extension of the lunch box purse.
It's as if it's just too risky to come up with original ideas just for movies these days. Hollywood increasingly mines comics books, novels, tv shows, toys, any property with a modicum of past success or built-in fan-base. It's been happening since the dawn of film, but these days it's getting so tiresome.
ReplyDelete