15 More Movies That Should Have Had Cartoons

Movies and cartoons in the 80s and 90s are inexplicably linked. While some cartoons were adapted to the big screen, either in continuation or as an adaptation, many movies also made the jump to the small screen in animated style. Several cartoons were even created based on R-Rated properties – stuff no kid should have been watching at the time was kiddified, creating cartoons way gentler than their source material. While we were chomping on Cap’n Crunch and chugging Sunni D, we were watching Rambo give kids PSAs about downed power lines and the Robocop telling cartoon bad guys to “Drop it, creep!” But why stop at creating a team of superheroes based on the Toxic Crusader? Why not make some other cartoons from possibly inappropriate movies?

So I’m looking at a couple of other movies that could have easily been tweaked to make them PG for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd. I’ve picked five different genres – action, horror, comedy, science fiction, and fantasy – and selected three movies to turn into fodder for cereal commercials and action figures.

We’re starting with Action movies, the one genre with the most adaptations. James Bond and Rambo were both turned into cartoons, but there are more ultra-violent films ready to have all its blood removed for kiddie consumption.

Big Trouble in Little China – This Kurt Russell film steeped in Asian-ish mythology would be a great selection to be adapted to cartoons. Jack Burton would make a great hero among good guy troops since he’s not your normal infallible leader like Optimus or Duke, while Lo Pan and his magic could rival Skeletor. The Three Storms could round out the villains, along with the Lords of Death street gang (which might need a name change for kids’ television), but I think Jack would need some original characters to round out the good guys’ side.

Sticking with Kurt Russell, I think Escape from New York would be another good show. I picture it having some real Spiral Zone/Thundarr vibes. Snake would need an upgrade to his backstory, possibly removing his criminal past, reinstating him to the Special Forces. The writers could go nuts with the future of New York and create a ton of various bad guys for him to fight in each episode. I think Cabbie and Brain would be good to carry over from the movie for his support team as well, but might need some more help.

Lastly, I’m looking at Top Gun. Guys flying around and blowing stuff up in fancy jets is always a good sell, but I think a cartoon version would need updated, futuristic fighters with sci-fi weapons. Nothing as silly as Ring Raiders with their time engines, but each jet could have a different capability. I would go with new trainees but reuse at least some of the call signs as the movie, specifically Maverick. As for the villain, I would have them fight a coalition of bad guys instead of a specific real-world nation.

Next, we’re looking at Sci-Fi – Robocop, Men in Black, and Godzilla all got adaptations, the last two being produced by the excellent Adelaide Studios, who specialized in cartoon adaptations in the 90s (and I’ll be looking at in another post soon). Cartoons fit the science fiction realm to a T, being able to showcase all sorts of crazy tech and insane monsters and aliens.

Innerspace – predating the animated/live-action movie Osmosis Jones, Innerspace also featured a microscopic creature living inside a human body. In this film, Dennis Quaid is shrunk down in a submersible ship and injected into Martin Short’s body, giving him the ability to control his host. My idea would be the main character (not necessarily the same character as the movie) being injected into different people and animals, allowing him to be a super spy of sorts with humorous results.

Predator – Sylvester Stallone got a cartoon where he shoots a ton of bullets into the jungle, why shouldn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger? This cartoon needs to have the most changes from the source material, not just to tone down the violence, but to give Dutch’s crew more to fight. I want them traveling the world, picking off different kinds of Predators that are infiltrating the globe. I think you could continue on from the movie by giving him a whole new team of fighters to replace the ones that bit the dust.

If Attack of the Killer Tomatoes could get a cartoon, then surely Killer Klowns from Outer Space deserves one. The villains basically being cartoons themselves makes the job of adapting them so easy and could just as easily expand what they’re able to do to their victims. There’s been talk for years about bringing them back to the big or small screen, but I think in animation would be the best home for them. All we need is a hero to fight them, and I would prefer to see a different alien face off against them with the help of the local humans.

And next we’re looking at Comedy, which I think has the most potential for variety. The Real Ghostbusters, Bill and Ted (which would have been an awesome crossover with Back to the Future), even Police Academy had great adaptations, mining the source material for even more funny situations, and with Ghostbusters, fleshed out the stories and characters for more than just jokes. There’s plenty of possibilities here.

Three Amigos – When three actors playing heroes in the “Wild West” are tasked with saving a village from a despot, they have to step up the task with whatever skills they learned for their show. There aren’t nearly enough cartoons that take place in the old west setting – all I can think of is the Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, and that show’s too weird for me. This show could follow the adventures of the Three Amigos actors as they stay in Santa Poco and defend the town from other threats.

Sticking with Chevy Chase, I think Vacation would be a great adaptation. Each episode could be them going to different attractions around the world, with Clark showing the same excitement for minor places like the biggest rubber band ball in the nation that he did for Walley World. The kids could be made the main characters, trying to maintain enthusiasm for those terrible tourist traps, while Clark invariably ruins each attraction, and Ellen tries to keep the family together.

Lastly, Short Circuit 2 definitely deserves a revisit, and I would place it after the second movie with Johnny 5’s adventures as an American Citizen. Ben and Sandy could be the main supporting characters with their Input Inc. company, and Crosby and Stephanie from the first movie could show up as well. I would like to see Johnny deal with a newer version of the S.A.I.N.T. robots being sporadic villains.

It’s not frequent that a Horror movie gets adapted to animation, but it has happened, though they’re more often humorous than not. Little Shop of Horrors and Beetlejuice both got adaptations, though the weirdest adaptation is from the HBO series Tales from the Crypt.

Like Tales from the Cryptkeeper, I think Creepshow would make a great anthology horror cartoon. The movie itself already had cartoon elements, as the main character between the stories is reading a comic with animated interludes, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to animate the whole thing. Each episode could focus on a single story with an overarching story for the reader.

I originally added Firestarter because I wanted to adapt a Stephen King story, then I realized he wrote and even appeared in Creepshow. I still like the idea of Firestarter though, with Charlie and her dad, Andy, searching for her missing mom (who died in the book but would live here, just captured by the Shop). I also want Charlie to add a few other original-to-the-show telekinetic kids to her team, with her Andy helping teach them all how to use their powers.

I think the Lost Boys would be a great show if we flip the script. Making the group of vampires the main characters, facing off against a group of monster killers more experienced and brutal than the Frog Brothers ever were and other creatures of the night. I don’t think any of the characters need to be adapted here, though, creating new ones to fit the change in the vampires’ more benevolent behavior toward humans.

Fantasy comes last and is the genre with the least adaptations. Granted, there’s more than one Conan cartoon, but I think those are just adapted from the books and not Arnold’s movies. But there are still plenty of sword-and-sorcery movies fit for animation.

The Beastmaster – Considering the fantasy world Dar inhabits where he can communicate with animals, just picture what else could join his team if real-world animals did not limit us. Dragons, wyverns, chimeras, hippogriffs – we could throw any of them in the cartoon as his companions, even if his ferrets, eagle, and tiger are the only ones that carry over from one episode to the next to maintain continuity with the movie. I see this movie taking place during the events of the movie to include Kodo, but could easily take place afterward, replacing the original ferrets with the babies born at the end of the film.

Clash of the Titans – I know Greek mythology is already represented on Saturday mornings by the excellent Ulysses 31, but I think one that’s firmly rooted in the time and location of Ancient Greece would be a good fit and not provide too much overlap. Cel-animation isn’t the best replacement for Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion, but if that’s what I need to see more of the mechanical owl Bubo, then I’ll live with it.

Lastly, and the cartoon I’d want to see more than any other on this list is The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. I absolutely loved this movie with its sometimes hilarious, sometimes terrifying visuals. The Baron’s varied stories could all be told as in the movie, as if on stage and transitioning to his past, and his crew of incredibly powerful companions could show off all sorts of abilities. Hell, just make the cartoon now!

So what movies do you want to see turned to cartoons? Do you think any more ultra-violent flicks could make the jump to Saturday morning? And if you want more ultimate animated evil, check out my books Old School Evil and Old School Evil: The Rejects on Amazon, or go to my site www.oldschoolevil.com.