Everyday Napoleon

It seems that everything is unnecessarily either made into 3D or an animation these days, which is getting old real quick. I can wrap my head around the notion when they make 3D along the lines of movies like Transformers or Shrek, but once they start touching old classics like The Beauty and The Beast (which to my dismay will be showing soon in theaters near you) it crosses an invisible line to me. And now it's the cult classic movie Napoleon Dynamite's turn to be disturbed by film executives trying to make easy $$$ by remaking things that don't need to be remade.

FOX has already aired the first two episodes of their newly animated TV series - and yes it is really just the animated version of the original movie - to, unsurprisingly, mixed reviews. Reports are being wishy washy, although from what I can gather is if you loved the original movie you aren't really going to like the series, but if you didn't then you'll be quite amused with this new take.

REASONS WHY I QUESTION WHOEVER THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA

•  The original movie was NOT animated. 

I can't think of the last time I heard about a non-animation turned into an animation. The reverse is more commonly known, i.e. The Flinstones, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Smurfs, etc. Also, most of the time the genre-swap is based off of cartoon adventures rather than a singular movie storyline. Props to the series' team though, the characters all look exactly like they did in the movie. The styling kind of reminds me of Disney's Recess series.

Excluding Deb's signature side ponytail, I think they nailed the Dynamite gang.

• The movie's not kewl enuff 4 skewl being actually kewl vibe.

Napoleon is just one of those movies that pop-up on the mainstream radar every once in a while to offer something refreshingly different. The dead-pan expressions of the characters and bland physical tone of the film turned out to be its strong points. I figure if something were to be animated it would have to be more "crazy" and loud to translate better into animation. I imagine the beginning of animation started because of the physical limitation of real human beings/actors in acting out extreme things - unless your name is Jim Carrey - without being able to not blow a budget. Animations were always meant to be outlandish. Have you ever seen an animated series dry of physical gesture? The answer is N-O. Even Beavis and Butthead had some eternal flare going on. The movie's nature just doesn't fit into being drawn on paper.

• That funny feeling.

The main selling point that made the movie so good was how blase the movie was. It shined in its weirdness and was actually funny because of all that. It has to do with comedy timing and to be honest the kind of humor the movie pulls is hard to translate into animation. Although they tried to match the movie it just didn't have the same effect without real actors. 

• Timing is EVERYTHING.

I'm not sure how this came about

The first time Napoleon Dynamite hit the public was back in 2004. We have now recently entered the realm of year 2012. So the original movie was 8 years ago, making the animated series super late. Why would anyone think it was a good idea to reprise a movie - even with the whole original cast voicing in the characters - after so many years have passed? The movie isn't a big franchise movie where they can wear out the sequels till 4 or 5, it was a small indie. It's one of those movies that is better off being un solo. It was great 8 years ago but everyone is over it now. On top of all that, they wanted to animate it instead of making an actor-based TV series. Pushing the limit like a diabetic eating cake.

• Never mess with the original.

Anything one-of-a-kind should never be messed with. Sequels or spin-offs have always been the easy route to cash out for the big film suits but if they gamble wrong it could actually cost them a lot instead, just like this.

FOX already bought six episodes for the first season. Judging by the welcome so far I'm not sure they'll even make it to the sixth. But who knows? If people are bored enough maybe it'll soon pick up momentum, the series is still full of quotable one-liners. People can be fickle about their TV.

I don't have any of the episodes, but there is the trailer.

Ps. The true star of the original, Tina the llama, also makes an appearance on the show.