Mary Schmich once said, ~The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.~ Without a doubt, we all grew up watching cartoons to where they have not only become pop culture, but also a staple of our own childhood. Essentially, when the cartoons we watched as kids end up on the big screen you can most definitely be a bit weary and yet at the same time excited as well. I think it would be safe to say every person who grew up watching the original animated series Transformers were stoked when it was made into a movie, which I personally saw at least 3 times. However, there are certain cartoons made into movies that just didn't/won't live up to the hype such as Masters of the Universe, G.I.Joe, and the upcoming 4th Spider-Man reboot.
Let me ask you this question, did anyone think that Masters of the Universe starring Dolf Lundgrin lives up to your own personal standards? Personally speaking it didn't for me because it quite frankly fell way short of the mark when compared to the cartoon series for several different reasons. First off, the cartoon series focused on Prince Adam turning into He-Man whereas the movie never shows it or mentions his other persona for that matter. Second is Battlecat...nuff said. Thirdly, one of my favorites in the cartoon was never shown leaving me disappointed indeed and I think you know who I'm talking about...Orko. Let me tell you something, there are so many things I can rant off about but I must move on.
If you think about it, there are certain cartoons that will forever be part of our childhood such as the series G.I. Joe. For it's one of those cartoon series that every young boy like myself possibly yelled out "Yo Joe" and bought the toy merchandise...but I digress. When the movie G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra came out last year I was stoked but coming out of the theaters I was left confused and perplexed not about the movie but the decision on pairing characters up that didn't make any sense at all. If you know your Joe cartoon history, Scarlett is with Duke and Baroness is with Destro but for some reason Duke is Baroness and Scarlett is with Rip Cord....Rip Cord! Personally speaking, I was too preoccupied with trying to figure out why my enthusiasm for the movie slowly went away.
For the question can be asked how many of you watched Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends as a kid growing up. It would be only a matter of time before it became a movie starring Toby Maguire who is and will be Peter Parker. The first 2 movies were outstanding but the 3rd installment was ok. There is news that the 4th installment will be a complete reboot where it goes back to his high school days, which sounds promising until I found out that 3 key people are not returning. The Director Sam Raimi, Kirstin Dunst, and Toby Maguire have signed off on the picture leaving fans like myself to speculate that picture will royally fail because to be perfectly honest Kirsten Dunst and Toby Maquire will always be in my eyes Mary Jane and Peter Parker.
In retrospect, many movies based on comic book/cartoons have made it to the big screen that have either failed miserably or have been an absolute success. Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Steele, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, CatWoman, Scooby Doo, Josie and the PussyCats, X-Men, Wolverine, the upcoming Avengers/Thor movie, etc. are just a long line of characters that many of us have seen jump of the pages of our comics or televisions on to the big screen. Yet, as a fan we have a right to voice our opinion when a douchebag director makes the decision to remake "The Crow" in order to be more realistic is a very bad idea for so many different reasons. In the end, when it comes to turning cartoons from our childhood into big screen blockbuster movies I can speak for my fellow peeps and say if it ain't broke don't fix it.
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