50 Awesome Cartoons That Should Be Movies

BraveStarr

The Cartoon: A space-set Western based on the planet of New Texas, BraveStarr followed the gunslinging adventures of Galactic Marshal Bravestarr and his cyborg horse Thirty/Thirty. Handily, Bravestarr is able to call on four spirit animals to help him out in times of trouble. Neat!

The Film: A futuristic western would go down a treat, provided it could dodge the pitfalls suffered by Jonah Hex and Cowboys And Aliens . Our solution? Get Clint in to direct!

Dream Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal (Bravestarr), Sam Rockwell (Thirty/Thirty), Gerard Butler (TexHex)

Dream Director: Clint Eastwood

Captain Planet

The Cartoon: A superhero of profoundly green sensibilities, Captain Planet was a badass eco-warrior, summoned by his teenage friends The Planeteers whenever any pollution-based chicanery was afoot.

The Film: The green message is even more relevant today, meaning that Captain Planet is due a live-action remake. Take that, excessive fuel emissions!

Dream Cast:
James Franco (Captain Planet), Cate Blanchett (Gaia), John Malkovich (Looten Plunder)

Dream Director: Roland Emmerich

Pro Stars

The Cartoon: A slightly bizarre offering in which American sports stars Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Bo Jackson used their sporting prowess to fight crime. "it's all about helping kids," said the tag-line, bafflingly.

The Film: A modern day update, featuring a new roster of stars to replace these dusty old pros.

Dream Cast: Roger Federer, Thierry Henry and Kobe Bryant lend their voices to the new version. "It's all about the money," reads the satirical tag-line.

Dream Director: Oliver Stone

C.O.P.S.

The Cartoon: Not a gritty US documentary series, but rather a colourful cartoon following the brilliantly-named Baldwin "Bulletproof" Vess, a lawman looking to bring down Brandon "Big Boss" Babel.

The Film: Think The Untouchables , but set some fifty years or so into the future. Cops versus crims, only with a whole host of futuristic weaponry at their disposal.

Dream Cast: Michael K. Williams (Baldwin Vess), Kurt Russell (Brandon Babel)

Dream Director: Quentin Tarantino

Voltron

The Cartoon: Voltron is the name of a giant super-robot which is assembled when a group of robot lion operating earth defenders pool their resources. It's nothing like Power Rangers , honest…

The Film: Giant mech-robots have proved rather popular at the box office over the years. We see no reason why this should be any different. Robot lions dammit! Who doesn't want to see that?

Dream Cast: Bruce Willis (Commander Keith), Channing Tatum (Lance), Willem Dafoe (King Zarkon)

Dream Director:
Brett Ratner (if only to keep him occupied)

The Animals Of Farthing Wood

The Cartoon: One of many '90s cartoons to carry a heavy environmental message, this one followed the attempts of a group of woodland animals to find a new home after those bastard humans destroy their old stamping ground.

The Film: A CGI spectacular in which the animals rise up against their human oppressors, rallying the rest of their brethren to overthrow mankind as the dominant species.

Dream Cast: Andy Serkis (Fox, Hare, Mole, Shrew, Owl, Badger, Toad…)

Dream Director: Rupert Wyatt

Danger Mouse

The Cartoon: An animated send-up of the traditional spy thriller, Danger Mouse sees the titular hero embark upon various sleuthing adventures, accompanied by his reluctant sidekick Penfold.

The Film: Cars 2 touched upon the potential of an animated spy spoof without really following it through. This would be the perfect vehicle with which to pursue the theme further.

Dream Cast: David Tennant (Danger Mouse), Martin Freeman (Penfold), Alan Rickman (Baron Silas Greenback)

Dream Director: Terry Gilliam

Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors

The Cartoon: The good guys are the Lightning League, the bad guys are the Monster Minds… together they cause an almighty ruckus with their souped-up battle vehicles. Cool…

The Film: Picture The Fast And The Furious , with weapon attachments, in space. That's what we want to see.

Dream Cast: Jason Statham (Jayce), Nic Cage (Saw Boss)

Dream Director:
Justin Lin

M.A.S.K

The Cartoon: A kind of Transformers rip-off in which both heroes and villains ride around in tricked-out, transformable vehicles that bestow the driver with rad super-powers. Wooooo!

The Film: It would fill the mega-blockbuster spot vacated by Transformers , without Michael Bay or Shia Labeouf hanging around to spoil the party. Matt Trakker would kick seven shades out of Sam Witwicky any day of the week.

Dream Cast: Dwayne Johnson (Matt Trakker), Vin Diesel (Miles Mayhem)

Dream Director: Shane Black

Gargoyles

The Cartoon: The tale of a set of living gargoyles who stay frozen in stone until nightfall, at which point they come to life. All well and good, but when a billionaire buys their castle and relocates it to Manhattan, all sorts of crazy antics ensue.

The Film:
The gargoyles face a nightly race against time to track down a warlock who can reverse the spell. Trouble is, he's got plans to turn the rest of New York into gargoyles too…

Dream Cast: Joel Edgerton (Goliath), Ed Harris (David Xanatos), Salma Hayek (Elisa Maza)

Dream Director: Zack Snyder

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.