Skip to main content
  • TotalFilm
  • Edge
  • Newsarama
  • Retrogamer
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Best Netflix Shows
Don't miss these
Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes during the new show, Young Sherlock.
Streaming Services 6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (March 6-8)
Attack on Titan, Haikyu, and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Anime Shows Best anime: 25 shows to watch in 2026
DCU Chapter One explained: James Gunn smiling.
Superhero Movies DCU Chapter One: Every movie and show in the new DC cinematic universe
Dune
Movies Movie release dates 2026: Every major film coming to cinemas and streaming
Ash holding his fist up with Pikachu on his shoulders during Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You.
Pokemon The best Pokemon movies of all time, ranked from worst to very best
Dune 2
Movies Upcoming movies: The most exciting new movies coming in 2026 and beyond
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
(L to R) Steven Yeun as Detective Mike Ro, Matt Damon as Lieutenant Dane Dumars, Ben Affleck as Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne, and Kyle Chandler as DEA Agent Mateo 'Matty' Nix in The Rip.
Action Movies The 25 best Netflix action movies to watch right now
The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus
Movies The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
One Piece
Netflix The 25 best shows on Netflix to watch in 2026
Omni-Man putting his hand on Invincible's shoulder in Invincible season 4 trailer
TV The best new TV shows to watch in 2026
Dan Da Dan season 2: Okarun and Momo getting ready for a fight during Dan Da Dan season 1 episode 8.
Anime Shows Best anime on Netflix: 30 shows to stream in 2026
Norgal the warrior beheading a monster
Animated Shows The studio behind Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX almost made the perfect fantasy anime, but only 2 minutes of it exist
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Streaming Services The 20 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Robin Hood in Disney's Robin Hood
Live Action Movies Disney's live-action remake of beloved classic Robin Hood has been scrapped: "It's dead sadly"
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

50 Awesome Cartoons That Should Be Movies

Features
By George Wales published 4 April 2012

Nostalgia, anyone?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

The Raccoons

The Cartoon: An eco-conscious cartoon in which mischievous Bert Raccoon and his forest-dwelling buddies bump heads with villainous land-baron, Cyril Sneer. He's an aardvark who smokes cigars, by the way… be afraid!

The Film: This could easily translate into a state-of-the-nation, live action picture, with Burt and friends becoming a bunch of Occupy-London protesters, and Sneer reprising his role as their money-grabbing nemesis. Only he'd be a human. Not an aardvark.

Dream Cast: Jack O'Connell (Bert), Charles Dance (Cyril Sneer)

Dream Director:
Ken Loach

Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds

The Cartoon: The adventures of d'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers, imagined as if they were giant, humanoid dogs. Not nearly as terrifying as it sounds….

The Film: We'd like grown men playing it for laughs in canine prosthetics, please. Realism was never the name of the game with Dogtanion.

Dream Cast: Jay Baruchel (Dogtanion), Seth Rogen (Porthos), Jonah Hill (Athos), Jason Segel (Aramis)

Dream Director: Judd Apatow

DuckTales

The Cartoon: One of the most well-loved Disney cartoons of all time, DuckTales followed the money-grabbing antics of Scrooge McDuck and his resourceful nephews Huey, Dewy and Louie.

The Film: DuckTales did get a big-screen spin off in the form of The Tale Of The Magic Lamp , but if Disney want to bring some of their back catalogue to a new audience, DuckTales would be a prime property to reinvent. We're thinking a combination of hand-drawn animation and CGI, a la Tangled for this one.

Dream Cast: Ewan McGregor (Scrooge McDuck), Billy Connolly (Flintheart Glomgold),

Dream Director: Nathan Greno & Byron Howard

You may like
  • The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
  • Dune 2 Upcoming movies: The most exciting new movies coming in 2026 and beyond
  • Year in Review: The Best of 2025 main listing image for Best Movies of 2025 featuring images from Weapons, Superman, Sinners, and The Long Walk The 25 Best Movies of 2025

Darkwing Duck

The Cartoon: A spinoff from DuckTales , Darkwing Duck told the adventures of an egotistical superhero attempting to balance the monotony of parenthood with the thrills of crime-fighting.

The Film: A live-action version in which the set-up is the same, but the protagonists aren't ducks. Take that away and this would make for a decent superhero comedy.

Dream Cast: Will Ferrell (Darkwing Duck), Danny McBride (Launchpad McQuack)

Dream Director: Adam McKay

The Mysterious Cities Of Gold

The Cartoon: The long-running and seemingly never-ending saga of a young Spanish stowaway, who makes his way to the New World on a quest to discover one of the seven Lost Cities of Gold.

The Film: A sprawling, boys-own adventure saga, in the vein of the Journey movies. Although hopefully with slightly more polished CGI…

Dream Cast: Captain Mendoza (Javier Bardem), Vincent Cassel (Gaspard)

Dream Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Superted

The Cartoon: The batshit crazy tale of a discarded teddybear who is brought to life by an alien and his "magic dust", enabling him to fight evil in the form of a cowboy, a skeleton and a fatty. Truly bizarre.

The Film: We can't really see this one working as anything but animation, so we'll leave Pixar and Dreamworks to scrabble over the rights. Come on… it's a guaranteed banker!

Dream Cast: Michael J. Fox (Superted), Stephen Fry (Spotty Man), Josh Brolin (Texas Pete), Alan Cumming (Skeleton)

Dream Director: John Lasseter

Bananaman

The Cartoon: Come on, you know the drill: "This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric, the schoolboy who leads an exciting double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs! Eric...is...BANANAMAN, ever alert for the call to action."

Live-Action Version: Bananaman was always a bit limp in the heroism stakes, so this might work well as a kind of Kick-Ass style subversion of the traditional superhero story.

Dream Cast: Bill Hader (Bananaman), Timothy Dalton (Dr. Blight)

Dream Director: Matthew Vaughn

Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

ThunderCats

The Cartoon: They're ThunderCats. They're on the loose. They're go. All of which is bad news for Mumm-Ra, the leader of the evil Mutants of Plun-Darr.

The Film: Unbelievably, the cartoon series has been rebooted before the ThunderCats have actually made it to the big screen. The next big fantasy franchise? Look no further.

Dream Cast: Chris Hemsworth (Lion-O), Jennifer Lawrence (Cheetara), Idris Elba (Panthro), Gary Oldman (Mumm-Ra)

Dream Director: Kenneth Branagh

Count Duckula

The Cartoon: Imagine what Count Dracula would have been like if he were a duck with an aversion to blood… congratulation, you've just imagined Count Duckula! Or "Duckypoos" to his friends…

The Film : A gothic comedy starring a cast of loveable grotesques, in which an unwilling vampire attempts to find ways around his distasteful need for blood.

Dream Cast: Johnny Depp (Duckula), Helena Bonham Carter (Nanny), Jackie Earle Haley (Igor)

Dream Director: Tim Burton

Bucky O'Hare

The Cartoon: The space-set adventures of a freedom fighting hare and his ongoing battles with a race of evil toads, complete with seizure-inducing opening credits and rocking theme tune.

The Film: A futuristic world, wracked with conflict between rebels and the establishment… let's face it, the essential storyline is as old as the hills! However, Star Wars never had widdly-widdly guitar solos and a truly badass hero. This one would.

Dream Cast: Chris Evans (Bucky), Peter Mullan (Deadeye Duck), Timothy Spall (Toad Air Marshall)

Dream Director: Jon Favreau

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Current page: Page 5

Prev Page Page 4
George Wales
George Wales
Social Links Navigation

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.

Read more
The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus
The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
 
 
Dune 2
Upcoming movies: The most exciting new movies coming in 2026 and beyond
 
 
Year in Review: The Best of 2025 main listing image for Best Movies of 2025 featuring images from Weapons, Superman, Sinners, and The Long Walk
The 25 Best Movies of 2025
 
 
Rumi, Mira, and Zoey in KPop Demon Hunters
The 10 best fantasy movies on Netflix to watch right now
 
 
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
 
 
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
The 30 best shows on Disney Plus to watch right now
 
 
Latest in Movies
Don Lee in The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
James Wan is set to direct his first movie since the Aquaman sequel, and it's a remake of a hit Korean crime thriller
 
 
Kate Winslet at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum casts Kate Winslet as female lead
 
 
Grogu saluting in The Mandalorian and Grogu
New Mandalorian and Grogu TV spot doesn't give much away about the movie, but it does show Baby Yoda sneezing everywhere
 
 
Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford in Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars fans are discussing why two major characters barely interacted, but I think it makes total sense
 
 
Ghostface in Scream 7
Scream 7's Ghostface star doesn't know who she kills in the new sequel: "I'm going to leave that up to the audience"
 
 
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Brie Larson knows "every detail" of Super Mario Galaxy, so trust her when she says the movie is "filled with references"
 
 
Latest in Features
In Pokemon Pokopia, the transformed Ditto trainer takes a selfie looking aghast in front of a glowing piece of land where a relic is buried
I've spent 20 hours in Pokemon Pokopia obsessing over its mysterious world and what it hides beneath the surface
 
 
BG3
The future of RPGs is isometric
 
 
Photo of a Mario nendoroid figure holding a microSD Express card with a Turtle Beach Switch 2 case in the background.
These Mario Day-inspired Switch 2 accessories will power up your console more than a super star
 
 
Underside of Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop with glass viewing window and RGB fans
We could get a shock when 2026 gaming laptop prices are unveiled, here's what you need to know about buying this year
 
 
Emily Rudd as Nami and Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy in Netflix's One Piece
One Piece season 2 ending explained: Who is Mr. Zero? Who dies? Will there be a season 3?
 
 
In Hitman World of Assassination, Agent 47 sits at the departure gate in an airport during the loading screen
After weeks spent locked into Hitman's Freelancer mode, I realize there's one vital thing 007 First Light needs to learn
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Peak
    1
    Peak devs originally borrowed from Zelda Breath of the Wild's climbing, but "everything changed" 1 week into development: "At this point, the game kind of made itself"
  2. 2
    The mighty SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset just got a ridiculous Spring Sale price cut
  3. 3
    Rick and Morty takes aim at "AI slop" as it confirms season 9 release date: "Grade A organic slop, made by real humans"
  4. 4
    Valve has shared new Steam Machine Verified guidance at GDC, but I've no idea why hitting Steam Deck performance levels is part of the requirements list
  5. 5
    Super Mario minifigures are on the way in 2027, but what does it mean for the rest of the range?

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...