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The American movie company Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) has optioned the rights to the award-winning Robert C. O'Brien book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H.", upon which former Disney animator Don Bluth based his amazing animated movie The Secret of NIMH. The plan, apparently, is for a live-action/CGI product, and possibly a franchise of more than one movie, that will be scripted by Michael Berg, who also penned the scripts for three of the Ice Age movies (Ice Age, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Ice Age: Continental Drift).

Fans have so far had mixed reactions about this news, but I personally will hold my judgement until the first one starts to be marketed with trailers, and maybe until there is a chance to actually see it.

Some news:

http://www.slashfilm.com/rats-of-nimh-series/

http://deadline.com/2015/03/mrs-frisby- ... 1201385967

Huh. That's pretty cool.

Uh?

"Live action CGI with furry characters = Money

Let's take any possible stories and adapt it into a live action CGI film, so we can make more money!"

They announced Rescue Rangers live action, Gargoyles, and now this?

Seriously... I have yet to see one live action CGI film that stands out compared to their 80's/90's counterparts. It just doesn't work.

I think this deserves a news on the site though. (wow, they announced this the same day we opened the site?!)

I don't recall seeing those words posted anywhere in either link. [i]Dear God, I certainly HOPE they don't turn it into a "furry" movie. Not another The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I don't care how well that particular movie was rated either. Taking Roald Dahl's classic, regardless of how they scripted it and what great voice talent they used, and turning the animals into CGI furries, was monumentally depressing to me...


But as to the subject at hand...


It will either be a monumental failure, or it may come off as a moderate to rousing success. And CGI adds a whole new element to the concept of combining any form of animation with live action. They've done it in recent years to augment primarily live-action movies, as we all know (anyone who has watched any high action movie, be it science fiction, fantasy or even action-adventure can vouch for that). And it's come a long way since the days of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cool World. And, as I recall, Don Bluth made his fair share of profit off of this movie in the long run (as did others involved in its creation)...and more than adequate fame and appreciation (well-deserved though it was). So while many of the people involved in its creation often worked with their own equipment and, at least during a certain extent of the production, worked sans pay, they did eventually see profits from it.


I am sure the plan is for the scenery to be real, and the Fitzgibbons family to be live actors. The animals, otherwise, will likely be all CGI, as may well be the moving of the Frisby home. Here's hoping they don't turn it into a magical fantasy, like Don Bluth did. While I respect and deeply love Secret of NIMH, and the direction Bluth took it in mostly (especially in the area of character development and action), I never liked how he took away from the rats the successful move of the Frisby home, and how he chose to sacrifice Nicodemus (including turning him into a doddering old wizard rather than a still-wise, but younger and more virile leader). I get WHY he added the magic element, in terms of making it more enticing for kids. But I think it robbed something from the original story. That, and how significantly he altered Nicodemus, always bothered me (especially since I knew the book long before I saw the movie).

So I suppose we will see...

I don't get your point of view. They ARE furry animals. All animal characters talking or standing on two legs are furries...
And I really liked The Fantastic Mr. Fox even if it was weird, but that's stop motion, so it's different...

I just don't see how a live action film could do any justice to characters being hand drawn from the start. It just doesn't work.

Well we will not delve into it any further, because there would be an inevitable divergence of opinion, given our interests.

However, it is possible that they may screw this up terribly. And it is possible they may not. I, for one, prefer to make no assumptions or judgements until I have seen the first product. Or at least, as I said earlier, some trailers. Either you will be correct in your assumptions, or you will be eating your words. It depends upon what they end up producing, and how it is received by the general public and the fans.

Oh boy, the NIMH reboot.

...I don't want this.

No, I don't mean I don't want another NIMH movie; I mean, I don't want a NIMH movie to go the ways of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" by adding in pop culture and stuff. Just... NO.

I agree that it shouldn't be like the original "Secret of NIMH" movie, with the added fantasy element and the "magic stone" stuff. I would want it to be more like the book, and perhaps stay true to it, names and all [I want "Frisby", dang it. I think the movie's production companies could get that approved by Wham-O this time around. If anything, it's good advertising!]. Plus, the book really dove into the Rats' backstory and their journey from feral rodents to test subjects in NIMH to creatures that were now free but now highly-intelligent animals that risked their lives to survive and steal from Man. It'd be so cool to see them grow and evolve on the big screen, but I really want to see a bit more about Jonathan, since the movies [yes, both movies] showed such high respect for him, even after his tragic death, that I wonder what else he did to be remembered by so many.

So... okay, I'm on the fence here. The purist in me doesn't want to see a silly adaptation of a great novel get the Smurfs or Chipmunks treatment, while the fangirl in me honestly is curious about what a reboot would do and focus on. I hear they plan on making it into a franchise, though if they did this, it has to be a trilogy for the three books ["Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH", "Rasco and the Rats of NIMH", and "R-T, Margaret and the Rats of NIMH" - warning: there be book spoilers in these links!] and I'd love to see this happen.

- Juuchan17

I would be much more comfortable with this if it were being done by the makers of, say, The Chronicles of Narnia, or even maybe Babe. Coming from the guys who made Ice Age, though, I'm anticipating way too much comedy and way too little substance - or at least the wrong kind of substance. Plus, although I'm rarely one to quibble about art styles, I'm not exactly waiting on the visual product with baited breath either.

I'm not sure if this remake will be good. I'm not a big fan of live action with CGI cartoon characters.