Friday, July 3, 2009

A trend in kids' movies?


Took the kids to see Up in 3D this afternoon. The second thought I had afterward, is that there seems to be a trend in making popular kids' books, particularly pictures books, into movies.

(All right, for you who are curious: the first question is why I paid extra $2.50 X 3 for a pair of dorky glasses that give me a headache for a story in which the 3D-ness isn't even important?)

The much heralded Where the Wild Things Are looks to be a big-budget undertaking, and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball inserts a back-story and protagonist to explain why
the weather brings food in Chewandswallow.

To make full-length, or even almost full-length movies from a picture book, the core story has to be padded with subplots or back story. In Night At the Museum, there is the whole divorced-family-with-kid plot line as well as the- disgruntled-employees-cooking-up-a-crime plot line. I mentioned the backstory in Cloudy and I can imagine what they can do with Max and the Wild Things.

But what will they do to Goodnight Moon?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

It does seem to be a rising trend in movies, one I don't think necessarily works well. In all honesty, I think UP would have been better as a thirty minute short (minus the kid, minus the bird and dogs, and minus the crazy guy).

Sherrie Petersen said...

Ha! Did you see Polar Express? or Jumanji? It isn't necessarily a new trend, just something they go back to when they run out of ideas (which seems to happen quite often!) :)

Yat-Yee said...

Beth: I do love the sequence in UP where we see Carl and Ellie's life go by, without words, just some very expressive and sweet images.


You're right, Sherrie, I've forgotten about those. I was just struck by seeing two previews of beloved picture books being made into movies, and hoping they don't mess it up!

Tiffany_bb said...

I personally am having a hard time picturing The Wild Things as a feature length movie. Although your mention of Goodnight, Moon made me laugh just a little - they could bring back the silent film with that one! Love that book.