Could a Calvin and Hobbes movie work?
It's hard to imagine they could capture the spirit on screen, but it might be fun to see the attempt.
shareThat is the ultimate dream isn't it??
Who would you have play/voice Hobbes?
MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Could a Calvin and Hobbes movie work?
Maybe, but I don't think it would have much draw. It's not popular anymore.
shareCan you imagine the howls of outrage this comic strip would elicit today? It was vehemently anti-education. Every strip that took place in school setting was created to belittle and make fun of teachers and bureaucrats.
One of the most notorious showed Calvin fantasizing about dropping bombs on his school from an aircraft. When the screams died down, it was all justified with, "Just a comic strip, folks!"
Really, I don't believe that there was any intention to make fun of the teachers.
It is only meant to show us how hard it could be for everybody, if a child in the class was "difficult".
Today, they would have had a teacher's aid to assist both Calvin and Miss Wormwood.
But it was less common back then, even though I had my own teacher's aid already in 1992.
And as for Calvin's fantasy of bombing his school, it is true that it would be more controversial today.
But it was also clearly just a fantasy from a young boy, who didn't see school as a positive thing at all.
Most kids know that you're not allowed to do that in real life though and would never actually do it.
Most.
shareI think it would be difficult because the comic strip is so iconic, and has such a loyal following. Like any film attempt it would have its detractors, because there would be such high expectations from die-hard fans.
The idea for an animated project has been suggested but creator Bill Watterson doesn't care for the idea, so most likely it will never happen.
From Wikipedia:
Watterson has expressed admiration for animation as an artform. In a 1989 interview in The Comics Journal he described the appeal of being able to do things with a moving image that can't be done by a simple drawing: the distortion, the exaggeration and the control over the length of time an event is viewed. However, although the visual possibilities of animation appealed to Watterson, the idea of finding a voice for Calvin made him uncomfortable, as did the idea of working with a team of animators. Ultimately, Calvin and Hobbes was never made into an animated series. Watterson later stated in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that he liked the fact that his strip was a "low-tech, one-man operation," and that he took great pride in the fact that he drew every line and wrote every word on his own. Calls from major Hollywood figures interested in an adaptation of his work, including Jim Henson, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were never returned and in a 2013 interview Watterson stated that he had "zero interest" in an animated adaptation as there was really no upside for him in doing so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_and_Hobbes#Animation
It's hard to disagree with the man.
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