news + entertainment: 04.01.10
POSTED 04.01.2010 @ 15:17
Revive classics or let them lie? just handle with care, says Chris Deal.
Don’t we love revisiting childhood? Our fondness for revivals and movie sequels suggests we quite like rose-coloured glasses, so long as the reviver doesn’t tarnish the integrity of our dusty frames. The latest blast from the past is Wes Anderson’s film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic, Fantastic Mr Fox. This is one of Dahl’s stories that passed me by, so I’m cool with George Clooney voicing Mr Fox. But if it was “Did you hear Ben Affleck has been cast as the BFG?” there would not be a page on the internet that had not felt my fanboy wrath. If we’re so protective of these stories, should wemess with them? Many have, to varying degrees of success. George Lucas is widely despised for what he did to Star Wars with the prequels. Peter Jackson had the fat practically squeezed out of him under the pressure of not screwing up The Lord of the Rings, though the end result was applauded. Tim Burton is now mad as a March hare since he got stuck into Alice in Wonderland … no wait, he’s always been bonkers. If it weren’t for the rivers of cash, I’d almost feel sorry for them. Just don’t mess this up, Wes; we can beat you up better now than we could in primary school.