Last week we mentioned that a Thundercats film is in the works. News is out today that this feature will be animated. We get the scoop from our friends at FILMWAD:
There was a quite a bit of hub-bub last week when it was announced that a feature film version of cheesetastic Sunday morning stalwart, ‘Thundercats’ was in the works. The negative reaction was loud and, quite frankly, correct. The idea of a live action ‘Thundercat’ film seems preposterous, even in the hands of a talented director.
Seems the internet has made yet another impact as The LA Times spoke with a Warner Bros. spokesperson who stated that the film was now animated. For whatever reason, the idea of a full length cartoon about humanoid cats in space fighting mummies is far more palatable and Warner Brother’s certainly made a good decision.
I was not opposed to the idea of a live action Thundercats film, but I think I am much happier with the news that it will be animated. We get to see all the familiar faces in a format that we are familiar with and simply focus on the movie itself, and enjoy the story. 2d animation is still a fantastic way to tell a story and quite frankly, I am missing it these days with so many 3d projects.
I think one of the reasons we get excited to see live action adaptations of cartoons is because it is new. Special effects get better every year. It seems and we always want to see what is next. One of the best ways to test your mettle when it comes to cg is to take a beloved 2d character and to breathe life into them in the new format. I think eventually this curiosity will die down and we may see a renewed interest in 2d animated films.
I was a fan of the Thundercats as a kid and will be in line to see this film opening day. I will admit that when I heard this news today, I was relieved. I get so frazzled about people potentially fucking up the stories of my childhood heroes, that I may be on guard a little too much. That being said, an animated movie puts me at ease, frees almost all of my worry about this project, and allows me to anticipate it. Some people worry about the world on the brink of war, I worry about 80’s cartoon adaptations. We all have our crosses to bear.
