Live-Action Adaptions of Animated Things, and Why I Hate Them...

     First off, thank you Shawn Davidson for reminding me about this issue with your post on Speed Racer, reading your blog about the original series reminded me that a live-action film adaptation of that series exists and got me thinking about this pet peeve of mine again. 
     I'm not even going to address the issue of how a lot of adaptations of anime and comic books are just awful action flicks that throw a bunch of fancy CGI stuff at you and completely miss out on capturing the actual essence of what made the original awesome (Dragon Ball Evolution anyone?). What offends me the most about these movies is the fact that people feel the need for them to exist in the first place. It's one thing to make a live action film for the sake of experimenting with what that world might be like off the page, but I can't help but notice all the time the way people talk about animated productions on places like YouTube. Shows like Cowboy Bebop and Batman Beyond, I see comments all the time like "These really need a live action adaptation," and to that I say, why? What was wrong with the original? What is it about having a movie made out of your already amazing story that makes you more legit? Maybe it's just me, but that is the vibe I get from the live action industry in North America right now, that somehow getting your story adapted to live action film is "the pinnacle of success." As if Live action film were somehow the epitome of media and other forms of story-telling were inferior.

     A similar mentality I've seen among North American audiences is this idea that you can't tackle "mature," "dark," or "gritty," subjects when it comes to animation. I feel like Disney has greatly contributed to this mentality, but if watching anime has shown me anything, it's that you most definitely can make mature stories using animation. Take the new Batman trilogy for example. People act like it was making Batman a live-action film that enabled it to take such a "mature" perspective of the character and world; gag me with a spoon please...there is nothing that live action can do that animation can't. If anything, animation can do more than live action. In live action you are limited to what is real, even when using CGI you still have to conform to the look of photo-realism, while in animation your only limit is your imagination (and maybe your time and budget, but live action has those problems too). Well this was a long, ranty, rambley piece, but I hope you get where I'm coming from at least. As always feel free to state your own opinions on the subject.