File Under "Why Bother?"
Is there a more stupid trend in current cinema than the brainless desire to remake animated films and TV shows as live action features? From "The Flintstones" to "Bullwinkle" to "Scooby Doo," every one of these bombs was a critical and box-office disaster. Some might argue that the real problem was that the original material was never that good to begin with: what makes for a diverting half-hour for kiddies on Saturday mornings simply can't entertain paying customers in the cineplex for 90 minutes, even with state-of-the-art special effects. Fair enough. So then what explains the perverse news that director Stephen Norrington (who recently adapted the brillaint Alan Moore mini-series "League of Extraorindary Gentlemen," though it remains to be seen how successfully) has signed on to do a live-action remake of Katsutiro Otomo's Akira - perhaps the most ambitious animated feature ever to reach the screen? Was there something missing in the story? In the production values? Is there some pent-up demand to see Akira with human actors? The animated Akira was fully-realized and spectacular. It's not even that old (1987). When there are so many great tales to tell and even re-tell, why tackle something that was already done right the first time, in a perfectly valid animated format? Doubly distressing is that this project will continue to divert the attention of James Robinson, one of the most talented comic book writers of the past decade, who has signed on to adapt the script. Ough.
9:25:23 AM 
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