Classic Cartoons That Should Get Movie Remakes

Classics like "Watership Down" and "The Last Unicorn" seriously need an update

By ZACH OAT

Updated 3:45 PM EDT, Thu, Jul 30, 2009

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Fans of the classic children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH were treated to animated version in 1982, retitled The Secret of NIMH. Except in the movie, there were some significant changes, like the addition of magic and mysticism, and a lot more deaths.

Well, that may be rectified, since a new film adaptation of the book is in the works, one that will likely be a combination of live-action and computer-generated animation. If that had been an option back in 1982, they probably would have just done that the first time, as they would have with every other talking-animal movie made in that decade. We made a list of the animated classics that need an updated go-around, either because they didn't do the book justice or because a new version would make them that much cooler.

An American Tail (1986)
The 19th-century immigrant experience, told through the eyes of a mouse. Americans need to be reminded that this great country was built on the backs of our nation's rodents.

The Last Unicorn (1982)
A live-action version of this popular fantasy classic has been discussed, but held up due to legal issues involving the author. They'd better resolve them quick, because a new version is loooong overdue. It's about a talking unicorn, and it has a character in it named Red Bull. Do we have to paint you a picture of a giant dollar sign?

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The Black Cauldron (1985)
If New Line is looking for the next Lord of the Rings, they should look at Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series of fantasy novels. The first two books were merged into a single, gruesome film by Disney, who then had to edit out a lot of zombies and death just to get a PG rating. Make one movie out of each of the five books, and in five to ten years, somebody's getting an Oscar.

Watership Down (1978)
Bunny rabbits? Murder? Religious iconography? Those are the three things Americans love most.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
There are already two movies about Sherlock Holmes coming our way, Robert Downey's and Sacha Baron Cohen's, so why not throw in a remake of this film, which is basically Sherlock Holmes as a mouse? It's what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have wanted.

The Rescuers (1977)
Secret-agent guinea pigs? Don't make us laugh. The original rodent secret agents were Miss Bianca and Bernard, retrieval specialists with the Rescue Aid Society, who can be summoned by a message in a bottle, work with albatrosses and dragonflies, and are licensed to operate on foreign soil, if The Rescuers Down Under is any indication. Plus, there are still plenty of books left to adapt.

Rock & Rule (1983)
In this animated musical, an aging rock star uses a budding singer to summon a demon in a post-apocalyptic New York City populated by human-animal hybrids, and her former bandmates fight to save her. Based on the Shakespeare play.

Lady and the Tramp (1955)
The fact that they made two CGI Garfield movies before they made a new version of this dogs-in-love classic seems criminal. Then again, the fact that Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure even exists is also criminal.

Wizards (1977)
On a post-apocalyptic Earth 3 million years in the future (yes, million), wizards, robots and mutants all co-exist as twin, fairy-spawned brothers duel for dominance in the war between magic and technology. Technology gets the upper hand when an old projector turns the mutants into Nazis... Yeah, maybe this one's not such a good idea.

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