50 Awesome Cartoons That Should Be Movies

Doug

The Cartoon: The adventures of loveable loser Doug Funny, as he navigates his way through high school with his best buddy Skeeter and his faithful mutt, Porkchop.

The Film: Doug is now in his forties, recently divorced and lacking direction in his life. Can he turn it all around, or is suicide the only way out? No easy answers here...

Dream Cast: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doug), Charles S. Dutton (Skeeter), Catherine Keener (Patti)

Dream Director: Todd Solonz

Gravedale High

The Cartoon: Rick Moranis leant his voice to this creepy cartoon about the only human teacher at a school for monsters. Features one child who is just a giant eyeball. Gross.

The Film: This is exactly the kind of family friendly comedy you could envisage Adam Sandler heading up, with David Spade, Kevin James et al voicing the monsters. Nothing wrong with the set-up, but we don't want that shower ruining it…

Dream Cast: Jason Bateman (Maxwell Schneider), Max Irons (Vinnie the Vampire), Craig Roberts (Reggie the Werewolf)

Dream Director: Wes Anderson

The Jetsons

The Cartoon: A kind of futuristic Flintstones, in which George Jetson struggles with the trials and tribulations of family life in a space-age setting.

The Film: We've had a feature-length animation, but it's high time somebody took a punt on a live-action version. If it worked for The Flintstones … ok, so it didn't work for them, but this could be different!

Dream Cast: Charles Grodin (George Jetson), Chrstina Hendricks (Jane Jetson), Abigail Breslin (Judy Jetson)

Dream Director: Harold Ramis

Animaniacs

The Cartoon: A slapstick spectacular born out of a collaboration between Warner bros. and Steven Spielberg, Animaniacs followed a trio of '30s movie stars named Yakko, Wakko and Dot who were locked away once their star had fallen, only to escape and wreak havoc in the '90s.

The Film: Using a mix of 2D animation and live action, this would be something like a cross between The Artist and The Three Stooges . Wait, in a good way, in a good way….

Dream Cast: Zach Galifianakis (Wakko), John C. Reilly (Yakko), Anna Faris (Dot)

Dream Director: Todd Phillips

Biker Mice From Mars

The Cartoon: A trio of Harley-riding Martian mice pitch up on Earth, having escaped a war on their home planet. However, when the villainous Plutarkians make a move on their new home, they aren't about to run for a second time…

The Film: The most obvious way to adapt this would be to ditch the mice element, and just have the three leads as martian bikers. And thus, a new sic-fi franchise was born.

Dream Cast: Benecio Del Toro (Throttle), Ron Perlman (Modo), Michael Madsen (Vinnie)

Dream Director: The Wachowski brothers

Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers

The Cartoon: A pair of chipmunk gumshoes, who are always on the case no matter how big or small. Ch-ch-ch-Chip and Dale!

The Film: This one would remain animated, but the light, comedic tone would be swapped for a more noirish sensibility. Chip would be a regular at the local strip joint and Dale is never seen without a bottle in his hand.

Dream Cast: Clive Owen (Chip), Thomas Jane (Dale), Dennis Farina (Monterey Jack)

Dream Director: Robert Rodriguez

Rude Dog And The Dweebs

The Cartoon: 'Ey yo, slam your eyeballs against this! Yep, its that jive-talking canine Rude Dog and his douchey little buddies, the dweebs. Can they outrun that mean old dog catcher yet again? You bet your ass they can. Gnarly.

The Film: This one has stoner comedy written all over it. CGI dogs versus human adversaries, with some thinly veiled drug references thrown in there for good measure.

Dream Cast: Owen Wilson (Rude Dog), Kal Penn (Caboose), John Cho (Reggie), Jeremy Piven (Herman the Dog Catcher)

Dream Director: David Gordon Green

Dexter's Laboratory

The Cartoon: The tales of a boy scientist and his weird and wonderful inventions, created by Hotel Transylvania director Genndy Tartatovsky.

The Film: We'd age Dexter up a little in this live-action version and pit him against rival inventor Mandark, who has created some form of invention that puts the entire town at risk.

Dream Cast: Logan Lerman (Dexter), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Mandark), Elle Fanning (Dee Dee)

Dream Director:
Genndy Tartatovsky

Gummi Bears

The Cartoon: Dashing, daring, courageous, caring… those Gummi Bears were a solid bunch, weren't they? Not many confectionary lines get their own TV show, but this one did and it was bloody great!

The Film: A children's fantasy mixing live-action with animation as a young boy finds himself sucked into the kingdom of Dunwyn, where he must help the native bears fight the good fight against the evil Duke Sigmund Igthorn.

Dream Cast: Joel Courtenay (Cavin), Brad Pitt (Gruffi Gummi), Dustin Hoffman (Zummi Gummi), Amy Adams (Sunni Gummi), Rufus Sewell (Sir Victor Igthorn)

Dream Director: Phil Lord & Chris Miller

Daria

The Cartoon: A spin-off character from Beavis & Butthead , Daria was a quirky outsider, a teenage girl with a dry, deadpan take on the world. She's Juno, basically.

The Film: Daria is now in her twenties, working in a media job and struggling to conceal her general contempt for everything and everyone around her.

Dream Cast: Emma Stone (Daria), Olivia Thirlby (Jane)

Dream Director: Mike Judge

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.