Viewers will soon get to experience The Fairly OddParents in a completely new way. Instead of a manic, anime-inspired cartoon, they’ll see the characters in flesh and blood in A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!, which premieres Saturday on Nickelodeon. Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) plays a 23-year-old Timmy who despite his age is still struggling to mature. It might seem a novel way of approaching the material, but the truth is, plenty of cartoons have made the jump to live-action. Sorry to say, much of the time the results are less than stellar. But a few gems did make it through. Here’s a list of the good, the bad and the Bullwinkle:
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) — Not to put you in a bad mood right away, but that’s a risk you take when you organize a list alphabetically. Perhaps the most ill-conceived cartoon-to-live-action transition, Rocky & Bullwinkle pleased neither fans of the sly original series or newbies who had to wonder just what the heck was going on. Add insult to indifference by being truly the point of no return for Robert De Niro, who cashed in much of his credibility by hamming it up as Fearless Leader. When he recreated his famous “Are you talking to me?” speech, cinema died just a little.
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) — This modest CGI-live-action update seemed like an afterthought when it snuck into theaters around Christmastime. But it became a huge surprise hit, raking in a jaw-dropping $217 million at the box office. Who knew there was such a latent demand for the high-pitched rodents? The fun has continued with a couple of pun-laden follow-ups, 2009’s The Squeakquel and the upcoming Chipwrecked. To each his own.
Dudley Do-Right (1999) — Yeah, I’d forgotten they’d made this, too. Brendan Fraser and Sarah Jessica Parker have surely forgotten it, or at least repressed the memory. Man, what did Jay Ward do to deserve such awful cinematic treatment? These are projects designed to draw interest to the original properties, not taint them for life.
Fat Albert (2004) — Kenan Thompson had to be over the moon when he landed the title role in the big-screen version of Bill Cosby’s lovable Saturday morning cartoon. Still a Saturday Night Live newbie at that point, he had to think his stay on the show would be a quick one, and that a steady career in movies awaited. Too bad the movie bombed and quickly became one of those “oh yeah, they made that, didn’t they?” footnotes. Be honest, you said it before you read this, didn’t you?
The Flintstones (1994) — Here’s a case of all setup and negligible execution. Really, does anyone remember what The Flintstones movie was actually about? You know, how Fred becomes involved in some corporate malfeasance directed by his new boss and slinky secretary? Nah, what’s important is you remember that John Goodman played Fred, Rick Moranis played Barney, there were lots of rock puns and clumsy live-action attempts to recreate some of the cartoon’s signature gags, including the tippy-toes bowling. Try to forget, however, that this was Elizabeth Taylor’s final big-screen role. Believe it or not, there was a prequel made, 2000’s The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which finally told the long-awaited story of how Fred and Barney met their wives.
Garfield (2004) — Bill Murray said it best during his Zombieland cameo, as he lay dying and is asked if he has any regrets: “Garfield, maybe.” We’ll assume he also means Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.
George of the Jungle (1997) — It’s certainly not as fun as a typical George of the Jungle cartoon, but this big-screen adaptation is more fun and far less awful than it could have been. Brendan Fraser is well-cast as the doofus Tarzan wannabe, and Leslie Mann gets in some nice work in an early role. Plus, I’m not going to quibble when you cast John Cleese as “An Ape Named ‘Ape.'” Believe it or not, a direct-to-DVD sequel was made in 2003 with a mostly new cast.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) — Channing Tatum’s face is where emotion goes to die. And he’s the lead. Other than that (and Marlon Wayans, the other lead), this isn’t too bad an adaptation of the ’80s latchkey-kid cartoon series. I feared the worst when Mummy hack Stephen Sommers was named director, but he held his goofball tendencies mainly in check, perhaps realizing the story was already full of implausible events. The decision to focus on futuristic weapons was surprisingly well-executed, but overall this would-be blockbuster didn’t drum up the excitement of its Hasbro brethren, Transformers. A sequel is supposedly in the works.
Josie and the Pussycats (2001) — This wasn’t a hit when it was released, but a cult of appreciation has grown around this sly comedy that wrings much of its laughs out of satirizing the pop-culture/consumerism machine while also hoping to exploit it. The titular girl band just wants to bring their rock to the masses, but they unwittingly become pawns in a devious corporate scheme to send subliminal messages aimed at pushing product. The fake boy band, Du Jour, whose members included Seth Green, Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison in full early 2000s-era boy-band attire, remains a highlight. Even so, I’m not holding my breath for that Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space movie.
The Last Airbender (2010) — It’s become a chicken-or-the-egg question as to whether M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation as a director was in shambles before The Last Airbender, or whether this universally loathed adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon sealed the deal. Aside from complaints about the movie’s overall cruddiness, there was a particularly nasty controversy surrounding the cast. Specifically, the number of white actors playing ethnic roles. Shyamalan’s own ethnicity added another dimension to the supposed whitewashing, the troubling idea of a person selling out his own race. These are not the kinds of things we should be thinking about watching a fun, summer movie.
Masters of the Universe (1987) — Boy, talk about a missed opportunity. Dolph Lundgren is perfectly cast as He-Man, and the filmmakers scored quite a coup getting Frank Langella to play Skeletor, but they were stuck in a misbegotten plot that inexplicably shifted the action from He-Man’s home planet of Eternia to present-day Earth. Intellectually, I know it was a budgetary decision, saving the bare bones production from having to construct otherworldly sets, but I would have loved to have seen even a modest rendering of Castle Grayskull or Snake Mountain. Instead, we get a teenybopper Courteney Cox and her mulleted boyfriend. This is one remake I would welcome.
Popeye (1980) — It’s considered by many to be the nadir of Robert Altman’s illustrious career, but I’ll defend it till the day I die. The production design is amazing, and the characters feel real and lived-in, despite their wacky clothes and bulbous forearms. Then there are Harry Nilsson’s songs, which hold up well even today. Maybe we’re cheating a bit including this one, as Altman probably based it more on the E.C. Segar comic strip than any particular cartoon series, but hey, Robin Williams had to get that voice from somewhere, right? Seriously, don’t talk bad about Popeye around me.
Scooby-Doo (2002) — Hello, teenagers of 2025. Would you like to know who was famous in the first years of the new century? Look no further than this rollicking film based on the 1970s cartoon about a bunch of teen sleuths and their anthropomorphic Great Dane. Try to overlook the CGI work, which is horribly crude by your standards, and take note of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and someone named Matthew Lillard. There was a moment in time when they were considered famous enough to open a movie. Or, at least, to keep the story going between fart jokes. No need to revisit 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. You’ll get the idea.
The Smurfs (2011) — Like it or not, the little blue creatures are coming to theaters this year, in a mix of CGI and hammy acting from the likes of Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria. If there are more Smurfs movies made, we’ll only have ourselves as a movie-going public to blame.
Speed Racer (2008) — Not many people expected the Wachowski brothers to follow up The Matrix trilogy with this eye-popping film of the Japanese cartoon. The visuals were the very definition of eye candy, but audiences were left cold by the overall weirdness (and perhaps the 2-hour, 15-minute runtime) and stayed away. Speed Racer does have its devotees, who proclaim it’s a great work of pop art. In any event, it beats Matrix Reloaded.
Transformers (2007) — Michael Bay took whatever aspirations he had to be Steven Spielberg and put them into this high-sheen adaptation of the crudely drawn but beloved ’80s cartoon. Though the character designs were, and remain, horribly flawed (I can never find the robot’s eyes, can you?), the first Transformers movie had a goofy, almost earnest vibe about it that somehow meshed well with Bay’s manic style. For the most part, it was exactly what a live-action Transformers movie should have been. All that was absent in the hopelessly convoluted follow-up Revenge of the Fallen, which Bay himself has since badmouthed. The course seems to be corrected a bit with the latest entry, Dark of the Moon, albeit with audiences having to take Dramamine after enduring the nearly three-hour runtime.
Yogi Bear (2010) — This will probably be remembered mainly as the very last time Dan Aykroyd would ever get top billing over Justin Timberlake.
Other cartoons that made the live-action leap:
Aeon Flux (2005)
Casper (1995)
Inspector Gadget (1999)
Mr. Magoo (1997)
Richie Rich (1994)
Underdog (2007)
Photos: (A Fairly Odd Movie) © 2010 VIACOM INTERNATIONAL, INC. Credit: Ed Araquel/Nickelodeon;