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Post by Dyland on Jun 17, 2019 2:29:45 GMT -5
I'm fine with films like this being made - heck, I even really like a few. But, the Banana Splits in particular seem like the wrong franchise to bring into this current horror fad.
The original show, "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," was more about the cartoons and action shorts rather then the titular characters, and even then, they were harmless cute mascots common to the time - only with (I'd argue) one of the most rockin' theme songs!
Seeing them turned into robot FNAF clones is just sad to see, IMO. And what's the target demographic here? Boomers/Gen X-ers that grew up with the show originally? Millennials who grew up with the re-runs on Boomerang? The kids who watched the reboot show a decade ago?
I just think it's a bad idea to use these in-house characters rather than creating original ones (akin to FNAF). Plus, blatantly changing them to better sync with the canned FNAF movie script just screams quick cash grab to recoup the money lost during production of that other film.
Not saying it doesn't have an audience - or won't be an enjoyable experience. But, it just feels like a sequence of missteps to me...
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Post by vakanai on Jun 17, 2019 12:00:44 GMT -5
I kind of agree, but it depends. There's low budget horror comedies that work because everyone involves get what makes the genre work, and then there's the attempts at low budget horror comedies that don't because the people involved just don't care and don't put effort in. I don't know which one this will be yet.
I like the ones that aren't afraid to be cartoony something that is often lacking in bigger budget Hollywood. I've been on this about this is why I like the made for tv live action Scooby movies more than the theatricals.
I'm also the kind of person who watched two 2000s era Scifi/Syfy original movies for fun this very month. So yeah nothing Ive seen so far has made me dislike the direction this is going in, others are free to disagree as that's what makes the world go round.
Oh I get it, one of my favorite franchises is the Evil Dead, and with the exception of the remake that series is very tongue in cheek and somewhat cartoony, never mind my favorite Halloween films as a kid were Hocus Pocus and Ernest Scared Stupid, and I recently discovered that Elvira Mistress of the Dark film which is a lot of fun. My only problem is that some people these days use campy/cheesy/tongue-in-cheek/funny to cover up laziness or bad acting/directing, which I am not a fan of. Especially anything on Syfy these days. The comedic elements are there to enhance the joy of the movie, not cover up the fact you couldn't care to do it right! Eh, but that's just my opinion on some recent movies, and I haven't seen anything from this film to cause alarms on that front yet. All that said, while this film does look like it might be my kind of horror movie, I can't really say I approve of using the Banana Splits for this kind of film. Sure, I didn't grow up with this particular franchise so it means nothing to me, but I come from the angle of how would I feel if they treated one of my childhood favorites this way? Like, and I've mentioned this on a couple other forums, I would be rightly upset if they rebooted Eureka's Castle into a horror movie. That was a big part of my tv watching childhood. So I feel like taking a children's franchise that possibly someone else loved as a kid and making it into this just because your bid to make Five Nights at Freddy's fell through, is a pretty insensitive move on the part of WB. Doesn't mean I won't watch it, but still think this could have easily been as an original idea instead of incorporating an existing IP. At the very least, if they are ruining someone's childhood to make their own little FNAF ripoff, it had better be a damn good movie and not something lazy using the comedy elements to try and mask a lack of effort. (And even I've enjoyed the occasional bit of Scifi/Syfy schlock. Just not their shark movies...)
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Post by mattpricetime on Jun 18, 2019 22:12:10 GMT -5
I just see it as weirdness in adaptation, something the Hanna Barbera studio did a lot and something that has been done to them a lot in turn. I suppose once upon a time I used to take it harder when I was a kid but now I don't mind them coexisting. I've lightend up on the Scooby Doo Project since I first saw it as a kid too.
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Jun 18, 2019 22:33:20 GMT -5
I just see it as weirdness in adaptation, something the Hanna Barbera studio did a lot and something that has been done to them a lot in turn. I suppose once upon a time I used to take it harder when I was a kid but now I don't mind them coexisting. I've lightend up on the Scooby Doo Project since I first saw it as a kid too. My issue is not that it is darker, my issue is that it is lazy. I'm so sick of the Syfy channel's unfunny brand of "ironic" horror movies. I want a Banana Splits horror movie that actually takes itself seriously, understand the source material, and respects the intelligence of its audience instead of going for cheap laughs.
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Post by Dyland on Jun 19, 2019 0:19:47 GMT -5
I'm probably just an oddball outlier here, but I would have loved to have seen HB give another try at bringing the Banana Splits back closer to form. I think the 2008 reboot failed because it missed the point of the original concept - a cutesy variety show of cartoons and live-action serialized mini-shows. It was never about the Splits themselves, and it wasn't about the music, or their band, or whatever.
This reboot has got reskinned FNAF written all over it, but even if it was more conceptually original, I still don't think the Banana Splits are right for horror myself. FNAF works because (aside from the thinly veiled Chuck E. Cheese connection), there's no prologue in which to grow to like the characters, only for them to be twisted into evil entities later... No, FNAF sets you out with a distrust of these figures. The entire "they're aged children's pizza mascots" is learned through subtext and little lore hints.
This Banana Splits movie has the advantage of starting out with (fairly) recognizable figures to the general population... however, with that comes the issue of whether or not these older fans will come to accept this new interpretation - as it will most likely shape people's retroactive perception of the characters henceforth. Plus, as per ScyFy usual, it doesn't look to be done very well at all. And, while there certainly are a load of "so bad they're good" films out there, it's a little sad to see a company repeatedly try to intentionally make "bad movies" hoping to cash in on the cult/kitsch market.
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Post by russm on Jun 19, 2019 1:45:05 GMT -5
...The original show, "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," was more about the cartoons and action shorts rather then the titular characters, and even then, they were harmless cute mascots common to the time - only with (I'd argue) one of the most rockin' theme songs!... They were the glue that held it together. Without them it wouldn't have been a thing... size of an elephant anyone?
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Post by jonathanmuddlemore on Jun 19, 2019 10:26:18 GMT -5
I'm probably just an oddball outlier here, but I would have loved to have seen HB give another try at bringing the Banana Splits back closer to form. I think the 2008 reboot failed because it missed the point of the original concept - a cutesy variety show of cartoons and live-action serialized mini-shows. It was never about the Splits themselves, and it wasn't about the music, or their band, or whatever. This opinion is just straight up wrong. The cartoon segment were bad and cheap even by HB standards. The live-action segments were designed by Sid and Marty Kroftt and their signature gonzo, vaguely counter-culture style is written all over them. I do honestly believe this show was an influence on Pee Wee's Playhouse. Richard Donner was also a director on these segments and the songs were written by the likes of Gene Pitney and Barry White. There was an insane amount of talent working on these. They were not just there to fill airtime in between dull badly animated cartoons.
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Post by russm on Jun 19, 2019 10:53:00 GMT -5
I loved it when I was a kid. Really wanted one of those buggies they rode around in.
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Post by velmablake on Jun 19, 2019 19:49:43 GMT -5
I have no opinion on the Banana Splits, but I will say that the Groovie Goolies should get this type of movie reboot in the future.
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