Monkey Island Movie

[Pete el Napias]

To all of those people who loves Monkey Island (like me) and to Lucasarts! I would pay the cinema every times it were neccesary to see the movies of monkey island, from monkey Island I to IV. I think it would be one of the best things that lucasarts could do for Monkey Island fans. And dont worry about the idea of copying arguments or type of movie like some people thinks about Pirates of the Caribbean because Monkey Island is older than this movie. So Lucasarts i suggest to you to make a Monkey Island movie. Make one movie and you will see the money you earn and sure lots of fans will be happy of this decission. Please make it!

[Skinkie]

Monkey Island may be older than that movie, buts it was based around the same ride.

[Joshi]

and a fan base alone isn't enough revenue to make back the amount of money it would take for this movie to be made.

 

Plus, it works as a game, it probably wouldn't as a movie considering Guybrush spends most of his time alone. (Thanks to Paco, it only just works as a comic book)

[Pete el Napias]

Ok. You really think Guybrush is most of time alone and Pirates of the Caribbean are based on Monkey Island?. I´m not sure of that. You have an easy example of alone characters in movies like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. I dont think that movie was very bad, and sure it could be a solution for the movie to make Guybrush dont be alone, because if you make a movie of the whole game it could be very long, doesn´t it?. I don´t care the fact about a Guybrush alone, I like the history, and the characters, and leave it things or facts like "Guybrush alone" or "It´s based on Pirates of the Caribbean" because i dont see any equality with that movie, only ships,pirates and more pirates, but i really want to see in a supposed movie is the History of Monkey Island. Only is a suggestion.

 

And i continue agreeing about a MI movie!:3headed:and imagine this monkey in a movie!

[Joshi]

First of all, Pirates of the Caribben was based on a ride at the Disnleyland amusement park.

 

The creators of Monkey Island have been quoted as saying that they got the idea for the game as well as many ideas in the game from that same ride, ergo, there would still be an argument as to similarities between both movies considering the amusement park ride was around way before Monkey Island.

 

And secondly, before I saw Van Helsing, the worst movie I could possibly think of in the world was Tomb Raider. Not only was it incredibly predictable, but it was incredibly boring (second only to Resident evil, but we won't open up that wound)

 

Movies are not soley based on actions, but on conversation and communication of the story. This is nicely done in the games, but the games technique wouldn't work on the big screen.

[Strasse]

(second only to Resident evil, but we won't open up that wound)

Hey now, I absolutely loved the Resident Evil movie, eventhough I don't like the games. That may have something to do with the fact that I go crazy for Milla Jovovich, but... ok I can't help but love any movie she's in.

 

Thanks to Paco, it only just works as a comic book

Is there a MI comic floating around somewhere? Forgive me if it's a dumb question.

 

I think that a Monkey Island movie could have some promise, but it would be best represented as a feature cartoon. You just can't import the zany nature of the game into film. Now, it's quite possible to create a very entertaining piece based on a character that is very solitary, but then again, a large appeal of the Monkey Island games is the fantastic array of eccentric characters that guybrush interacts with. It's a goldmine of personalities for any movie.

 

After all, there has been discword cartoons and they were pretty good. There's a lot of parallels between the Rincewind saga and the crazy ambience of the monkey islands. I don't see why a MI cartoon wouldn't work either.

[Pete el Napias]

ok,ok the example about Tomb Raider was bad, but if you loved Lucasfilms games, you maybe love Indiana Jones. As you know there are a few movies of Indiana Jones, and i love them, and the argument and style of game is similar to Monkey Island with a difference. Indiana Jones games were made after the movies(I think) and i think is more difficult adapt a game from a movie than a movie from a game. Though a Monkey Island movie doesn´t have to be done around Guybrush Threepwood only because there a lot of spooky characters like Stan, or Herman Thootrot, that i could fill the movie with fun and humor. Of course i would like to see a Monkey Island cartoon movie because if you think the posibility of making a real people movie would be difficult, but im sure there would be a posibility of making a Monkey Island movie like Nemo Movie, with 3d graphics. That could be a good movey.

[Joshi]

First of all, if you go to http://www.worldofmi.com, their resident artist paco has been working for a few years on a comic telling the story of The Secret of Monkey island.

 

And it's bloody good.

So far he's only got to the insult sword fighting (after already stealing the idol and meeting elaine) but it's great none the less. Go check it out here.

 

Also, I don't care about Milla Jovovich, the movie was crap, end of.

 

But i do agree that if a movie was made, a cartoon around guybrush's life should be done just to set things straight and introduce people to it.

 

Of course, there is a reason why none of the discworld cartoons (all 2 of them) were based around anything to do with Rincewind, and as long as Pratchett lives, I doubt there will be a movie.

 

and Pete

It is infinately harder to turn a game into a good movie, as pretty much proved with Tomb Raider, resident evil, super mario bros and final fantasy.

 

It is much easier to make a game out of a movie, which is why it is done more often than not, with almost all films that are boxoffice hits or contain a lot of action.

 

and 3D didn't work for EMI, so it probably wont work in a movie either.

 

Oh, and lets not forget it's total lack of money it's going to get.

[Strasse]

Joshi:

 

Thanks for the link to the MI comic, will check it out.

 

However, you keep doggin the Resident Evil movie. But the movie was certainly not as bad as you think. Everyone I know certainly enjoyed it and it did pretty well at the box office. A sequel is in the works, so it certainly wasn't as bad as you vehemently accuse it of being. It's important when you go watch a movie based on a game that you remove the stigma that has developed around the entire concept from previous shoddy works. Go see it with an open mind, don't expect the movie to follow the strict plot of the video game, and enjoy it for what it is.

 

A movie based on a game has just as much chance on succeeding as a movie based on a book. A movie will never suck just because its storyline concept is drawn from a video game. It will fail because of bad directing, bad acting, poor screenplay adaptation, etc, etc. If you have the right elements then there is always potential to make something good out of it, irregardless of wether you played the game or not. Hence another reason why I think Resident Evil was successful - I really don't like the games but enjoyed the movie.

 

Examples like Mario Brothers, etc, were poorly written and poorly directed piles of poo that completely relied on their game license to make them successful. Now, I will actually say that Tomb Raider 1 wasn't actually that bad. It wasn't a horrible watch, it didn't tank in sales, and it also gave enough promise to lead to a decent sequel. Of course when that sequel came out it was clear that it had been written by a bunch of orangutangs with crayons and directed by someone with terminal ADD.

 

If you want a good example of successful game adaptation, you will find amongst the more successful Manga titles, the little gem that is the anime version of Street Fighter 2. Now, one would think: what possible merits can a simple 2d fighting game ever donate to a cartoon-movie? Well, the cartoon was bloody good mate! I recommend watching that one. (If you're into cartoons/anime of course) Fantastic story, great animation, brilliant voice over work and solid music licenses, and hence the end result was fantastic. It didn't matter at all if the concept came from a simple bash 'em up game.

 

Now, all this aside, I highly doubt a Monkey Island movie or cartoon will ever get made. Lucasarts don't seem to be keen on excercising any of their licenses that don't brandish the words "Star" and "Wars" anymore. Even if a Monkey Island cartoon were ever to be made, it probably would get so little money that it would be setup for failure from the beginning.

[Pete el Napias]

Ok. I have seen a read the comic and i think is great, and now is when i´m sure there wouldn´t any problem in making a MI movie. I have been seeing all the things that Joshi said it dind work in a supposed MI movie like Guybrush alone, and Paco has done a great job about this fact because you don´t think in each moment "Guybrush is alone all the time", so i continue thinking it could be possible to make the movie, but you can think what you want. That´s why this is a forum and anyone can think what he wants:) And i have another suggestion to Lucasarts. Make a remake of MI 1 and MI 2 but in 3d like MI4. That could be great because we could see Booty Island or Scabb Island in 3d or see Guybrush situations in MI 1 with Fetuccini brothers or speaking with Otis in jail. I really hope in MI 5 we can see some Island of MI 2 in 3d.

[Joshi]

Originally posted by Strasse

Joshi:

However, you keep doggin the Resident Evil movie. But the movie was certainly not as bad as you think. Everyone I know certainly enjoyed it and it did pretty well at the box office. A sequel is in the works, so it certainly wasn't as bad as you vehemently accuse it of being. It's important when you go watch a movie based on a game that you remove the stigma that has developed around the entire concept from previous shoddy works. Go see it with an open mind, don't expect the movie to follow the strict plot of the video game, and enjoy it for what it is.

 

A movie based on a game has just as much chance on succeeding as a movie based on a book. A movie will never suck just because its storyline concept is drawn from a video game. It will fail because of bad directing, bad acting, poor screenplay adaptation, etc, etc. If you have the right elements then there is always potential to make something good out of it, irregardless of wether you played the game or not. Hence another reason why I think Resident Evil was successful - I really don't like the games but enjoyed the movie.

 

Okay, so first of all, I've never played Resident evil in my life, or know anything about its story. What I do know about it is that you basically go around shooting zombies. It’s an old game, that's pretty much all that can be expected.

 

Why didn't I like the movie? Because it looked pretty much like a load of people, going around, shooting zombies. The story was crap, the directing worse and overall I hated it. I never walk out of a cinema, which is a pity because I really don't deserve that kind of treatment as to sit through and entire sitting of that crap. Why are they making a sequel? Either 1) Because they think they might be able to do better or 2) because they're idiots.

 

Or maybe 3), a combination of 1) and 2).

 

Now before writing any of this, I did not go to any review sites or anything. I haven't seen a review of this film at all before now.

But to back up this post, I decided to do a little Googling. This was the first review I found when typing in 'Resident Evil Movie Review'

 

http://www.moviesforguys.com/horror/reviews/residentevil.shtml

 

Now for some more

http://www.flipsidemovies.com/residentevil.html

 

This next site gives a list of reviews, some good some bad. Please note how much the bad outweighs the good http://movies.go.com/movies/R/residentevil_2001/

 

And finally (although not definitely)

http://www.all-reviews.com/videos-4/resident-evil.htm

 

And now back on topic.

 

I would like to point out that books are very different from games.

 

Books lend themselves to movies wonderfully. For a start, books are solely about characters and story. They don't have graphics (any that do don't really rely too much on them to tell the story and so don't harm the storytelling in any way) to worry about, just the words and so an author will spend more time fleshing out characters and building on plot and description.

 

If adapting to a movie, that means most of that is out of the way which is why book adaptations are usually really good or really bad, but unless the director or writers take too much artistic licence with the story, the story and characters pretty much sort themselves out and they can focus more on camera angles, lighting location, etc, which explains why LOTR was such a great success, they were making a grand movie based on one of the greatest and most successful books ever written.

 

A game on the other hand may not have all the story and characters fleshed out. For a start, the only reason we follow Guybrush on his adventures is because in a way, we are him. Sure, a little bit of character makes us care for him, but it's really the sense that we're controlling this guy so we'd better take care of him which is why we care for him. on the big screen, we just watching his life and so we may not care about him as much unless his character was fleshed out a little and therefore wouldn't care whether he was killed by LeChuck or not (which was another big flaw of Resident evil, we're not even properly introduced to Mila Jovovich and I didn't really care whether she died or not)

 

I think that's enough for now

[Strasse]

Joshi, yer killin me mate! You can't honestly be serious? You're an intelligent guy, you've gotta know better than defending your position with this kind of post.

 

It's completely fine if you disliked the movie personally. But just because you didn't like it doesn't mean the movie was bad. Now, as for the movie reviews, I can't believe you're actually bringing them into the picture. First of all, what kind of intelligent person needs movie reviews to help make up his mind? And more importantly, who the heck takes movie reviews seriously to gauge if a movie is good or not? Some of the most amazing movies of all time have reviews that are overwhelmingly bad.

 

I'll repeat what I said, to enjoy a movie based on a game or book you really need to go in there with an open mind. Linking bad reviews is a pretty dumb game to play. Lookie, I can do the same...

 

Some positive RE reviews:

http://www.moviecompound.com/reviews/movies.php?ReviewID=46

http://popkornjunkie.com/reviews/residentevil.html

http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/370154

http://www.nixflix.com/reviews/residentevil.htm

http://thezreview.co.uk/reviews/r/residentevil.shtm

http://www.cin3ma.tv/moving_pictures/reviews/r/resident_evil.shtmlhttp://www.juicycerebellum.com/200203.htmhttp://www.joblo.com/residentevil.htm

http://www.movie-source.com/movie_page.asp?movieID=972

http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/reviews/reviews2002.hts?residentevil+view+off (concensus page, check out Classic status vs Bad status)

 

I could go on, but I've got better things to do than list movie reviews.

 

Why are they making a sequel? Either 1) Because they think they might be able to do better or 2) because they're idiots.

Or maybe, just maybe, 3) because the movie was good enough to have a sequel? Hollywood moguls don't willingly throw away money in bad projects.

 

Books lend themselves to movies wonderfully. For a start, books are solely about characters and story. They don't have graphics (any that do don't really rely too much on them to tell the story and so don't harm the storytelling in any way) to worry about, just the words and so an author will spend more time fleshing out characters and building on plot and description.

First of all, I don't see what part of having graphics means automatically you get a bad movie. If a script writer is lazy, and doesn't know how to write, then it's his fault for writing a crappy movie. The very same danger is present in any movie adapted from a book. For example, "Of Mice and Men" was a really awful movie based on the wonderful John Steinbeck book.

It's not Steinbeck's fault that the movie was bad, and certainly not due to the fact that books make for bad movies, it was the poor way it was adapted into a script. If you get the same amount of work that Steve Jackson did for lord of the rings, and you put into a game-movie, then turst me, you'll get a good movie

 

A good movie is like a good book. It requires a good concept. And you can get this from anywhere. From a comic book (X-Men), from a Book (Lord of the Rings), from a *gasp* amusement park ride! (Pirates of the Caribbean). Actually, now that I bring that up. If your logic upholds, how could Pirates of the Caribbean possibly have been such a great movie, when all it's characters were animatronic puppets in pirate costumes to begin with!?

 

The answer is simple. Good writing, good directing, good actors. They make a movie great. NOT the concept.

Now, if in your opinion, the concept is bad, that is completely understandable. If you didn't like the concept of Resident Evil, it's entirely your opinion. I personally enjoyed the claustrophobic nature and building tension in the movie, along with the thrilling and frightening twists. And the ending was a great cliffhanger in my opinion. But that is because the concept was good to me. The work to make it come to life was also good.

 

which was another big flaw of Resident evil, we're not even properly introduced to Mila Jovovich and I didn't really care whether she died or not)

If you'd actually watched the movie to the end, you'll realise that you begin in the same shoes as her. It was. to me. one of the fantastic twists in the movie, and showed what a good job the adaptators did. You start knowing nothing, no background, no immersion. Just like her, you are piecing together who she was gradually. You are getting accustomed to who she may be, and it's revealed to you through experiences. It didn't plonk it all on your plate unintelligently, it made you part of the revelation, and this was brilliant to watch. It was a nice parallel to an actual video game, where you bond with your character over time and initially have no idea what kind of person they may be.

 

It’s an old game, that's pretty much all that can be expected

Why didn't I like the movie? Because it looked pretty much like a load of people, going around, shooting zombies.

So by your reasoning then Aliens was just a movie about a bunch of guys getting hunted down by Aliens. (Aside from the fact that it is one of the best Sci Fi films of all time, and a groundbreaking piece of movie history).

Or perhaps The Godfather was just about a fat dude that ordered people killed? Meanwhile Taxi Driver was just a movie about an insane dude that drove taxis and talked to himself.

 

A good concept has the potential to make a good movie. The video game industry is making just as much money as the movie industry these days. Movie makers just need to realise that there's brilliant ideas that come from video games, and not just cheap opportunities for cashing in on knock offs. (ie, Mario Brothers, Tomb Raider 2)

 

Do I think that Monkey Island, a mere video game, would have the potential to make a good movie? Heck yes! If a movie based on an animatronic ride can be excellent, then why not our beloved Monkey Island?

Do I think that if by some snowball's chance in hell a movie were made it would be done well? Probably not. It would most likely be Ace ventura with monkeys and pirates.

[sith_master2000]

A MI movie would be a nice thing but it woudln't be able to have actuall actors, the film would only work well if it was done in computer animation. If real actors were used the characters origional voices would be destroyed and replaced by some guy no one's ever heard of. A few things in the story line would also have to be changed (like Paco did in his MI 1 comic) or else it would get boring in places where Guybrush is just walking around. But if these things were considered the movie would be very good indeed!

[Joshi]

Originally posted by Strasse

Joshi, yer killin me mate! You can't honestly...

 

I've always been a great believer in people having a right to their own opinions. I'm not saying you shouldn't like it because I don't, neither should you not like it because it was, in my eyes, a bad movie.

 

I didn't like the movie for a number of different reasons. By posting a list of movie reviews, I have basically shown you a bunch of people who held the same opinion as I ahve, and evidentally, you have done the same by lsting your movie reviewers. I'm not saying your stupid or an idiot for liking the movie, obviously some people did like it for it to constitute a sequel (and in this day an age, Hollywood base giving money away for sequels on how much money they expect to make, it doesn't matter how good the movie is, which is why the two Matrix sequels were financially justified).

 

All I'm saying is that there are some very good reaons why the movie was bad, as well as their being good reasons why the movie may have been good (this I cannot see, but that's because I am me, you cannot see the bad points because you are you, thus showing the truth in a right to our own opinion)

 

Also, I was not swayed by movie reviews, i did not see a single movie review of the film before going to see it and halfway through the movie deduced that, for me, it was a bad movie.

 

But I do put a lot of faith in movie reviews when put into extremes, especially if there are a lot of them.

 

This means that if a lot of different magazines and websites give a movie five stars, I'll actually consider seeing it, but still with an open mind (meaning I don't always agree when watching the movie, I wasn't too excited when seeing LOTR: FOTR, but grew into it immensly (and loved the other two, just making it one big great movie)).

 

If a number of magazines and websites give a movie one star, I'll deduce that it's probably not worth it and will wait until it comes on TV to watch it, if I really want to. And even then, it's with an open mind, I don't put into mind what the reviewers say, when watching it, I just use them to deduce whether I want to spend money on it.

 

I'll admit, there have been a couple of times when I've disagreed with what a number of movie reveiwers have said and formed my own view on things because try as I might, I'm not that cynical.

 

If a number of magazines or websites give any stars in between, and I feel I want to see it, i really won't care much about the magazine, it's really just the extremes I look for.

 

That's not to say that I always look at reviews to see whether i want to see a movie, most of the time, I go just as the mood takes me, (which is why I went to see Resident Evil and Van Helsing).

 

Now back on topic.

 

I personaly think it would be hard (not impossible) to bring Monkey Island to the big screen (or even make it into a cartoon series, although not as hard) and public interest wouldn't justify it being made and unless a really great writer brought it to the screen (like Gilbert, Schafer or Grossman) then it wouldn't treally be worth it.

[Strasse]

Joshi, fair enough mate.

 

On the subject of Resident Evil, there's nothing wrong on agreeing to disagree

I completely respect your opinion and I understand your concerns that you're entitled to have, along with your judgement of the movie.

 

I agree completely on what you said about the monkey island cartoon, it's exactly how I feel on the subject too.

 

When all is said and done, all we can really do is wait and see what products LucasArts continues to put out. Hopefully a new monkey island title is in there somewhere, but I sadly am not holding my breath on that one

 

All the best to ya