MovieChat Forums > The Phantom Tollbooth Discussion > they should re make this movie

they should re make this movie


it would be a great movie to re do..with all sorts of animated characters and funny songs!!

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[deleted]

I was thinking they should make it more of a live-action movie. With dazzling visual effects that can really bring out the imagination of the book. I was thinking about writing a script for the movie (I'm currently an amatuer screenwriter).

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Yeah, as I was re reading it a few months ago I was thinking how cool of a movie this would be. I didn't know it was already made into a movie. But it should be redone as a live action, I prefer live action then animated.
"Love gives a courage which is stronger then anything!"- Sailor Jupiter

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Hell no. If they remade it today it would be an insufferable CGI-filled mess, probably starring Haley Joel Osment. I'll take the Chuck Jones movie any day of the week.

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FYI - I recently heard from inside sources that a live action film is in the works. Lookin' forward to it myself.

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anything to back that up? a news snippet or anything?

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go to website

www.thereserveent.com

go under projects in development and they mention that they are beginning developing a movie.

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Second that.

Good, Bad...I'm the one with the gun.

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I think people should leave old movies alone, the movie moguls should all grow a brain and think up some new original material instead of ruining people's childhood's by recreating and massacring movies made over 30 years ago. The Phantom Tollbooth is a classic children's movie which should most definitely not be remade. Seriously, when is this remaking old classics phase going to end?

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It will never end as long as there are tools out there that keep saying they should remake this movie and that movie. Seriously if the movie is at least five years old there will always be somefool posting on IMDB that the movie should be remade.

Good, Bad...I'm the one with the gun.

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"It will never end as long as there are tools out there that keep saying they should remake this movie and that movie. Seriously if the movie is at least five years old there will always be somefool posting on IMDB that the movie should be remade."

I completely agree with that statement. I refuse to believe that there are no more great ideas out there just waiting to be brought to life, I just don't understand the idea of someone wanting to remake a respected classic movie or tv series in their own weird image, 9 times out of 10 it just doesn't work. Remakes should be outlawed, just let them be I say. There's already talk about Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs being redone, seriously, what's wrong with this generation's directors and writers? Get some new, original and creative material and quit stealing and massacring other peoples ideas and visions.

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Amen my brother. On a sad note I have learned that Rock and Roll High Scool is also being remade. I think I'm going to cry.

Good, Bad...I'm the one with the gun.

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"Amen my brother. On a sad note I have learned that Rock and Roll High Scool is also being remade. I think I'm going to cry."

Oh for Gods sake, honestly what's next? I personally haven't seen the first one, but I vaguely remember the sequel with Corey Feldman, which I must say was pretty bad. The first one is a teen cult classic from the 70's, it was written in a particular era for a particular generation, updating it would be a complete waste of time, there should be a law prohibiting the remaking of old classics, because 9 times out of 10 all they turn out to be is an insult to the original. The one exception to that for me would be the Starsky and Hutch movie, now that was funny. Not really like the show at all, but a good laugh nonetheless.

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hollywod has been rehashing remakes since the 1930s; i dont think it's going to end anytime soon. they'd have to start coming up with original ideas and that requires too much thought.

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In general, I agree with you, but not in this instance. We recently found it on TCM and I DVR'd it. When my fourteen year old saw it on the playlist she was excited, fondly remembering having read the book. When her seventeen year old brother heard what we were going to watch, he actually graced us with his presence. They were very disappointed; not so much with the animation, but with the differences from the book. They both enjoyed the scene of Milo driving in and out of the tollbooth before the full animation took place and all of the live action scenes. They just felt that the animation (not the art, but the way it was done) juvenilized the story.... made it more for younger children.

I enjoyed the animation, but probably in a nostalgic way. It's been way too long since I read the book for me to comment on it's relation to the movie.

Actually, if it wasn't over CGI'd, I think a live action remake would be a good idea. Many of the adolescent focused movies recently focus on female protagonists, and a male lead would be rather refreshing at this point - and I'm in favor of anything that isn't steeped in potty-humour or a dystopian future.

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"They just felt that the animation (not the art, but the way it was done) juvenilized the story.... made it more for younger children."

I agree completely, the book in it's original form was a thought provoking masterpiece. It would take a very talented director to bring that feeling to the screen, no matter what special effects were used.

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Oh, you are SO right.

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i think they should re-make like how their gonna do where the wild things are live action sorta thing with special effects.

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[deleted]

IF
they could stick as close to the book as the Chuck Jones version did, then I wouldn't mind seeing a live-action remake. That is a huge, very important IF. I won't even see the movie if they stray too far from the book.




Brunettes do it better...

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i think its cool how it starts out live action but then gets animated...i think thats cool...like maybe to do like some sorta jimmy neutron-animation thing going, that would b sweet, but i think that if they kept it all live action and added in CGI or that crap it would b a horrible movie

thats my two cents


Nothings as big as your first love.

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i could picture it as a cross between "the wizard of oz" and "the labyrinth".

if it were to be live-action, then at should use a bright color palette and really cool puppets. it could probably take severel cues from the wizard of oz, because the colors in the film just jump out.

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Chuck Jones definitly gave the orginal a unique feel that while somewhat simplistic compared to recent animated moves it has a vintage charm that I am sure made quite a few people ardent fans of the animated adaptation. Chuck Jones' place in cinematic history is very well established though even without "The Phantom Tollbooth" taken into consideration. His style is so distinctive that it is pretty much branded in our minds.

Even being in my mid twenties ,which means around 250+ of his cartoons and movies were made before I was born, I still have an abundance of appreciation for his movies. For a good period of time my favorite movie was Rikki-Tikki-Tava and I watched it at least 2-3 dozen times.

But despite my fondness for the Chuck Jones cartoons, I would also be intrested in a remake and would not see it as a travesty or affront. While his cartoons featured vastly exuberent and entertaining main characters and situational scenes that are now considered classics and elements of which are used still to this day, I have always felt that his weakest area was in creating tangeable atmosphere in which his characters would live in breathe. The antics are entirely entertaining but I have never watched s Chuck Jones cartoon and felt a sense of awe.

While it may be do to popular demand and the trends of the time such atmosphere was always attainable. Disney did it in Fantasia with several segements, "Night on Bald Mountain" being my personal favorite this approach was never his way and to me some movies need more than slapstick and witty dialogue. This is especially the case when the story is set in a fantastical world not our own. While the characters are quite memorable the worlds they inhabit never really drew me in.

This was the main disappointment (and one of the very few) I had with this movie as well as Alice in Wonderland. Neither seemed to fully transport the viewer into this strange new world.

In the hands of more modern director/ lead animator, these movies could be breathtaking. It is the reason I don't ever dismiss remakes based on my love of the original. Some stories benefit greatly from modern cinema. It is the reason I personally prefer Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the original. It to me was a little bit darker, a good deal wierder and was larger than life in a way the orginal wasn't I could envision walking into Gene Wilder's chocolate factory in real life as if it were a theme amusement park ride and see pretty much everything depicted in the movie recreated in real life. With Johnny Depp's factory it is quite the opposite and lives up to the reader's own internal imagination.

I love this story and still own a copy of the book and won't for a minute call foul if they do remake it unless the director is one I consider to be a hack and whom I think would be incapable of getting it right.

This doesn't mean I automatically replace the orginal with the remake. Some remakes I feel are frivolous like Vanilla Sky (remake of Open Your Eyes) or Criminal (remake of Nine Queens) but do not do the originals a diservice the way other movies can, The Talented Mr. Ripley as a remake of Purple Noon for example.

Still, sometimes the source material can be good enough that it warrants being taken down off the shelf, dusted and revised.

As for the method in which a remake might benifit from is the green screen heavy methods used in Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow as well as in the upcoming movie 300 but I waiver a bit when try to decide if it should be animated or live action. I wouldn't want it full CG in the style of Pixar's movies but feel like traditional animation would be a mistake as we already have a version made that way. So I say either the green-screen style of live action with the seemless intergration of minatures and real actors and actresses weilded together with that sort of hyper-realism look as well as the dynamic lighting not possible in unaided filming or that it be rotoscoped in the manner of A Scanner Darkly an Waking Life.

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Please, no more remakes.

Make new, original work. No more remakes.

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no, no they shouldnt. Knowing todays Hollywood, it would get ruined along with everything else thats remade.

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. -Phillip Dick

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i loved the original i dont think they should make a remake,

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Well, I've never seen this film, so don't shoot me! Lol. I'd like to watch it very soon. But here's my story. My mother's good friend gave me this book to read when I was 10 yrs old. I LOVED it! It fascinted me. I've read it many, many times. It's part of who I am. I'm also an aspiring film maker. I've known that's what I wanted to be for quite some time now. Every time I read a book, I unintentionally imagine everything as a scene in a movie. I pretty much adapt the books into screenplays in my head as I read them. Lol. So, after I go to film school and start making movies, my dream is to dramatize my favorite books. And I want to do them the RIGHT way. So many of the books I like have already been made into movies. But the films were all either EXTREMELY disloyal to the books, poorly cast, or very low-budget. So it's my goal to make perfect versions where the casting is excellent, the screenplay loyal to the book word-for-word and all the costumes and sets very good quality. That said--I decided about a year ago that I want to do "The Phantom Tollbooth". I want to do it more than anything. I'd be very disappointed if they really were making one right now. Call me cocky, but I'm convinced no one could make it better than me. Lol. I would make it live action for sure. And most, if not all, the actors would be un-knowns. And I've always pictured Milo with a british accent. I'm American, but I think I'd have most of the actors be British. I can see a sort of Freddy Highmore actor for Milo. And everything would be very whimsical and bright, but not cheesy at all. And most importantly, it would follow the book to a T. I'll be starting on a screen play very soon, but it will be years before this all comes to fruition. Any suggestions or comments would be welcome. Sorry for boring you with my long story. Lol. I need to watch this movie soon. I'm sure it's great! :)

I have a great gift for gaming. I just haven't opened it up and given it to myself yet. -Billy Boyd

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I started reading the book in either sixth or seventh grade (had not been allowed to see it in the theater for some long-forgotten reason... maybe the fact that I was only four when it came out...), but quit when I got to the Mathmagician... math being my worst subject. I wish I had continued, I think it might have helped with that very problem (don't ask how, I don't know now, but when I did finally read it all the way through, it made sense at the time).
Anyway, good luck finding a copy; the last one I got was a number of years ago at Sam Goody in Ridgedale mall. VHS. Brand new, still in the plastic, and insanely cheap. I don't think it was even five bucks.
Cut to, mmm... five years later. Sam Goody/Suncoast, Cheapo's, even the rental places... gone.
So I check the 'net, figuring if it's going to be anywhere, that's where I'll find it. 35 bucks!!!
Obviously, that was several years ago. I just found out what a bargain $35 would be right now. The only new copies (2) that I could find are going for 130 dollars now.
This needs to be cleaned up and rereleased... I mean, come on... all the other Chuck Jones stuff is getting "the treatment", why should this undervalued gem be discarded or "plasticized" like the rest of everyone's childhood?
A remake? Why? Hey- let's do "HR Pufnstuf" as a cartoon while we're at it.
Does anyone even remember the original "Underdog"? What, the live action Scooby Doo movies weren't enough to step back and go "Mmmmm, I see what you mean."
We're in the 21st century... Why haven't they done a live action "Jetsons" movie yet? Have we all conveniently forgotten the fiasco that was Rocky and Bullwinkle already? (Hands over ears-) Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala
Oooooooh... Let's do a live action Pokemon movie. Or, how 'bout- I know!!! Let's animate the Power Rangers, they didn't suck bad(ly) enough the first time around...
Have I made my point? Yeah, I really like this movie. I don't think it's fair that someone is keeping this out of circulation so that everyone forgets about it and says what started this whole thread in the first place.
Ok, the live-action bits might be a bit dated, (I mean, seriously- where are you going to find a 10 year old willing to wear pants that ACTUALLY fit?!!?), but what classic movies aren't, to some degree or another? As far as the backgrounds go, check out other stuff that came out around the same time... the Peanuts specials and movies; the Pink Panther; and- this one comes with an addy-

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/advertising/how-many-licks-does-it-take-to-make-it-cg

The original ("Mr. Cow") is also included (under the CGI version).
If this isn't one of the (if not THE) best argument(s) against remakes, then there really is no hope for the future.
I also agree with the "unknowns" comment. Nothing wrecks animation more for me than being stuck with a celebrity's face fading in & out over the character. The Miyazaki collection, for instance- I seriously doubt Claire Danes was doing voice-overs in the late 80's (might have been '90... but even so-)and I know I saw "Laputa" (IN ENGLISH) during a summer movie festival at the Uptown (Mpls) theater. It's so much easier for the characters to be themselves if you don't have a preconception of what the "voice" looks like.
Y'wanna do some live action? Try getting "Fablehaven" right. Or maybe "The Bartimaeus Trilogy." Or, if you've seen "The Seeker," check out the books (yes, that's plural- five books in the series) by Susan Cooper and bum out to how much was left out.
Yes, yes I DO tend to ramble. Thanx for noticing.
PS- The "1" after my name was totally imdb's doing.

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I'd like to see a remake, but ONLY if they kept the songs in.

I just abhorr what they did with Willy Wonka, and Doctor Dolittle was SO freakin far away from the Rex Harrison version. Yes, I know the new Willy Wonka was much darker and closer to the original story I always read the book if I liked the movie,and that's exactly what I did here. Of course there are deviations from the book. And they could add some of the skipped over material back in a new movie.

But, the songs (to me) just added something. Ok, I will concede, I could have lived without the Noise Song. But not MILO, THE DOLDRUMS, TIME IS A GIFT, or King Azaz's and Mathemagician's song.

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I agree, I hate it when the movie strays from the book. I am currently writin ga screenplay/script for The Phantom tollbooth meant fo rlive action and I'm not adding ANY dialogue unless the book cues it. I am not adding any scenes or anything, I just want to make a faithful representation of what Mr. Juster put into the book and with each picture Mr. Feiffer illustrated, I build off the rest from each picture so it will be extremely accurate.

I-M-4_1

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The book is one of my all-time favourites. A live-action remake would be INSANELY awesome, only if the right people made it. It could easily go bad. But I adore the characters and especially the places.

But as for Imforeverone's comment, I totally agree. It'd have to be EXTREMELY accuate.







"Good morning, Starshine... the Earth says hello!"

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Back when Macaulay Culkin was hot, I had hopes that that might be just the time for a remake of "Tollbooth". As it happened, Hollywood and I were on the same frequency, but on different wavelengths; the part-live action / part-animated feature they came out with was "The Pagemaster" instead.
So close, and yet so far.

But I've not given up on the prospects for a remake. The songs were witty and catchy the first time around, but I'm thinking it might be better to try straight prose this time around. Milo seems very English in his diction at times in the book, to me, and this ought not to be discounted. Then too, if the running time were extended to two hours ( like "Fantasia" ) there would have been time in plenty to give to the characters Alec Bings, Canby, the Soundmaster, and the "Giant"...actually, come to think of it, a TV miniseries might be a better format instead of a theatrical release.
Many more possibilities suggest themselves as well, but my time here is limited. Perhaps your own imaginings will end up closer to the finished version...or perhaps ( and how I'll envy you ) you'll be lucky enough to be a direct contributor!

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Announced on IMDB, I see, but no details.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1632727/

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I would love to see a Tim Burton version.

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If they make this book into a real, honest movie I will be THE FIRST person in line at the midnight screening.

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[deleted]