20 Live-Action Adaptations of Cartoons: Then vs. Now

In what has astonished paleontologists for decades, the intro song to Denver, the Last Dinosaur says Denver is “my friend and a whole lot more.” But that is just weird, what else can a time-traveling dinosaur be besides your friend? Your best friend? Your lover, perhaps? It’s your lover, right? Well, that is precisely the pitch for our gritty, adult-oriented Denver, the Last Dinosaur movie – excuse us, motion picture. Just listen to that intro song again (we know you want to). All that talk about hot, hot jungles, seeing a world they never saw before, not caring about people stopping and staring… come on. This is a Freddy’s Revenge-type situation all over again, and our truth will not be silenced.

In the meantime, though, here are 20 live-action adaptations of cartoons, then and now. We take a look at the way cartoons have evolved, particularly focusing on live-action attempts at showing their forbidden man-dinosaur lov— sorry, our brain is just working on the script as we speak. Also, we add lots of anime besides American cartoons. Anime is also a medium that has had plenty of live-action adaptations, although we focus on the American attempts at translating their culturally-shocking otherness into Netflix viewing activity. Are all live-action adaptations of cartoons bad? Which of them are actually worthwhile? Will Ryan Gosling accept our proposal to play a sexy, guitar-playing dinosaur of an ill-defined species in our 10-episode prestige miniseries, Denver? Two of those three questions have answers in what follows. You’ll just have to see which ones.