Strangechord

On a somewhat frivolous note, I’m really annoyed that all of my childhood favorites are being turned into schlocky, low-grade, merchandising bonanza films. I settled in at home this morning with my cup of coffee and a little time to catch up on the latest movie trailers on the web (I do this every few months). I see that “The Cat In the Hat” is coming out this holiday season. Hmm…I think I’ve heard of this, it’s with Mike Myers, right? I watch the trailer and after two minutes, I want to wring someone’s neck at Dreamworks. The set design seems true to the book’s hyper-colorful surrealism, but the further I watch, the more I realize this film will be just another stupid kiddie fest, replete with *wink wink* adult humor, minor explosions, and the line, “Let’s get this party started!” Ack! And you just know there’ll be a million toy and fast food tie-ins to top off the ruiniation of a beloved childhood classic.

Remember what they did to the Grinch a few years ago? I love the old cartoon, and that Jim Carrey film was an abomination. The Scooby-Doo movie too. My generation has some childhood nostalgia around those cartoons, but now I can’t think about Scooby without picturing that awful WB-type cast. I actually haven’t seen the two films mentioned above; I don’t need to because the advertising and merchandising saturation alone was enough to taint the characters for me.

This is the one that really upsets me: I read recently that next year 20th Century Fox is releasing “Garfield: the Movie.” The cast is going to be another smorgasbord of teen favorites, including Breckin Myers as Jon and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Liz, the vet. Ugh! I treasured Garfield the comic strip as a kid (read the first book, the red one, cover to cover when I was six) and you just know they’re going to completely kill it. Garfield and Odie as CGI/live action? Grrr. What’s next?