Five ’80s Cartoons That Need a Live Action Film Reboot

With the debut of the Jem and the Holograms trailer, it got me thinking about what cartoons do we need actual film reboots of? Rebooting ’80s cartoons to film isn’t a new thing obviously.  I know Michael Bay gets a bad rap and he should, but I enjoyed the heck out of the first Transformers movie. 

The TMNT remake we got this year looked awful. The last three Transformers movies were awful. The G.I. Joe movies were actually what I wanted from a GI Joe movie. They might be terrible films but they were really really fun. I think Jem is going to be just as fun. I just want good/fun remakes of good cartoons.

1. Silverhawks

Space androids that fight evil monsters? How could this go wrong? This is the setup for a great live action translation.

Director required: James Gunn

2. Dino-Riders

A short lived series, the premise of Dino-Riders seemed really cool to a 7-year-old. Humans riding dinosaurs and fighting aliens. With the return of the Jurassic Park franchise, this is the perfect time to introduce dinosaurs to a whole new generation. I suggest that the film makers stick to Cretaceous period dinosaurs. The cartoon had the problem of all dinosaurs and dinosaur-like things living in the same age. That cannot happen.

Director required: Brad Bird

3. COPS

I know now as an adult this was basically a way of capitalizing on Robocop. It didn’t stop the show from being pretty awesome as a kid. Because instead of one android cop, you get a few different android cops. I really love futuristic cop shows. I miss Almost Human. If we can’t get that show back, lets get a movie featuring the same two actors and add in wacky hi-jinx.

Director required: Edgar Wright

4. Galaxy High

This show was co-created by Chris Columbus, so it’s shocking that it never got more than one season. In fact, it only aired 13 episodes. It is a high school in space. The premise is definitely something you could work with and make awesome pretty easily. Elevating the female characters wouldn’t be that hard. We need a good sci-fi coming of age film.

Director required: Will Gluck

5. She-Ra: Princess of Power

My absolute favorite of the bunch, this show deserves all the plaudits and praise. It was an action show written for girls. It featured a very strong female lead. There is a reason She-Ra has endured in nerd culture. A live action movie would do amazing, if done correctly. Look at how well Mad Max: Fury Road is doing at the box office right now. Women want action movies that are not just save the girl, save the world all the time. Plus, this movie would definitely be better than the crappy Masters of the Universe movie that I loved when I was a kid.

Director required: The Wachowskis

I passed on some of the properties because like who would want a live action Popples movie? That just sounds really really creepy. Captain Planet debuted in 1990 so I had to keep that off the list. I really wanted to put MASK but apparently the new G.I. Joe film is using a few of the characters from that show.

Was there a property I missed that you would love to see come back as a live action movie?