Doug and Rob on the Secret of NIMH Remake

Is this really as bad as it sounds?

About Doug Walker



  1. …………………. I’m trying not to cry………..

  2. I believe the upcoming Ralph Bakshi movie Last Days of Coney Island is 2d but im not sure if that’s getting released in theaters.

  3. 1) Call it “Walker & Walker at the movies” or “The Walkers Report”
    2) Make a title card
    3) Make a setup similar to Siskel and Ebert
    4) ???
    5) Profit!!!

    Just saying ^_^

  4. Excuse me… Processing….Remake….? WHAT?! Live-action, comedic, FRANCHISE? Where’s mah shotgun?

  5. I saw this movie in the theater when I was about 5.

    It was awesome. I still remember it well. Makes me kind of emotional.

  6. I wasn’t aware there are 5 ICE Age. O.o I thought they stopped at 4.

    Single Mums…..
    Isn’t Xena a mum too? ^^
    The Mummy Returns, there Evey was a mum too, but not single. (And I like Rachel Weisz.)
    But animated? NO.

    And Finding Nemo is about a single father. :/
    No single mother in animation, no.

  7. No, no, no, no, no, NO! *Sigh* Let’s see how bad this will turn out.

    Heh, Anne Frank, reminds me of Linsey’s vision of a Disney’s Diary of Anne Frank.

  8. Whhhhhhaaaaaaatttt???!!!!

    Rape my childhood, will they?!!?!?!

  9. I have a baaaad feeling about this one.

  10. Another childhood assrape from Hollywood. Oh, the joy of pain.

  11. Oh….God. A remake sounds just awful! And why does it have to be comedic, Why can’t we have
    A “serious” fantasy story for children? Are they afraid kids might get bored of it because the characters
    Don’t shout pop culture references all the time? Is it really any wonder why so many children have ADD?

  12. So… T.I.G.S.?

    (This Is Gonna Suck)

  13. Actually the Spongebob Movie is mostly 2D. The ads lied, what you saw was basically the entire last 3rd of the movie re-cut into trailers so it would sell better.

    That kinda says everything you need to know about how much studios don’t think 2D sells. 😐

    • The Great Geek God

      Yea, it sucks. I loved the fact that the new Spongebob Movie, throughout it’s 93 minute length, about 77 minutes of it were 2D (with a hint of stop motion) and I gave it a standing ovation because of that. And I hate the fact that the ads we’re lying and saying that was mostly 3D, it was almost insulting. I only went to it because I heard the original creator came back, and let’s just say that it was not only the funniest Spongebob’s been in years, but just the fact it was about 80% 2D was great. I was pleasantly surprised by the film and I will buy it on Blu-ray to support the great looking 2D animation.

  14. I really wish Doug would go read the books so he can address them regarding the films and how a remake could possibly hope to play out.

    And personally, I’d have loved to see Bluth, back in the day, take the 2nd film’s lost ones plot and put it to the second books story. Because N.I.M.H. 2’s “chosen one” plot is crap but the book’s dam story just doesn’t do much for me. And the dynamic of Racso with Timmy (especially in light of the film alteration to Jenner) would make for a good travel story. Plus actually seeing the real N.I.M.H. would all the more fit with the “Secret of…” title.

    Plus I do wish we could have had just a little more shown of Johnathan in the first film to see what he was like. Say maybe a flashback Ms. Brisby has that pays off later when she starts realizing she can’t wish Johnathan was around to fix everything and has to be strong for herself and her family.

  15. I had to think about it… we only see Andy’s mother in the Toy Story movies, for reasons unexplained.

  16. Yeah, aside from a handful of good animated TV shows like Gravity Falls, Adventure Time, Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, Wander Over Yonder, and Phineas and Ferb, the US hasn’t really been making anything 2D animated worth mentioning for a very, very long time; certainly nothing feature-length.

    …Guys, seriously though, the first three seasons of Spongebob were great. I know the show is rather obnoxious now, but I cannot say this enough times: the show started out good.

    I’m just hoping this movie goes through development hell until it gets a competent writing team behind it. NIMH is one of my all-time favourite animated films.﻿

  17. I have no issue about Don Bluth movies getting remade even if in CGI. Yet, depending on who is making it will determine how well the movie will be made. With what is said and who is working on Secret of NIHM, I do not have a lot of faith in being remade well.

    If anyone could remake Secret of NIHM well, it would be either Studio Gibli or someone taking the work seriously.

  18. The spongebob movie only had a limited amount of CGI and it fit and it’s good if you’re a Spongebob fan. But here’s the thing: the only reason that the majority of the team was allowed to work on this and make it mostly 2D traditionally animated was because Spongebob is still a huge hit. And that’s even what encouraged Cartoon Network to get to making an Adventure Time movie: its’ STILL a huge hit. The problem with stuff like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Smurfs and the like are that those are plays on nostalgia that at the time they were made didn’t really have much going on. Thus you would have a lot more obstruvie executive meddling in not only what went in, but who went in to make it. If you have a show with a staff that’s still popular you can use that staff fine and it will work. But that ain’t going to be the case for Secret of Nimh so yeah that has me worried, and I didn’t even really see the original movie. But it does seem like one of those terrible cash ins and hollywood desperatley racking it’s brain for something instead of trying to come up with any you know ORIGINAL ideas. I guess it could be good but… I’m leaning towards no. Heck I didn’t even really like Paddington and the praise people have been giving it confounds me as the movie I saw was only slightly above Chipmunks level bad honestly.

  19. Wolf Children had a heavy focus on a single mother, though I suppose the focus was equally on the kids.

    And of course it was anime, so it doesn’t really fit their criteria…. even Ghibli films which very often have strong female protagonists don’t have any single mothers among them that I can think of.

  20. Oh my god, Steven Universe, Yes! Talking about great mother characters in 2d animation! If Steven Universe got an animated movie after Adventure time, they could make Uncle Grandpa a permanent crossover with that show and i wouldn’t care! Doug. Rob. 2d animation is still strong in the US, even if it is televised animation. Also that spongebob movie was way more trippy than your giving credit for. I’m with the Double Toasted crew in that movie is gonna inspire kids today to create more animated films for the future, whether they be more like Heavy metal and less like Secret of nimh, we have yet to see…just so long as it isn’t alvin and the smurfs live action cg…

    • Oh my gosh yes, Steven Universe is an absolutely fantastic example of strong female characters. In fact, it’s probably THE best example of strong female characters in all of western animation, period. It’s an absolutely beautiful show.

      The Uncle Grandpa crossover thing worries me to no end.

      • …Well, aside from Korra, I mean.

      • HOW DARE YOU LEAVE OUT Last air bender AND My little pony: Friendship is magic?!

        Like seriously >:C

        • Airbender naturally goes hand-in-hand with Korra. That goes without saying.

          As for MLP, I’m not so sure. I’ll admit I don’t watch it, but to me it doesn’t really seem to be breaking any boundaries. In fact, the whole show looks like a huge gender stereotype. Of course, I can’t speak for the characters or the writing, but the show’s image isn’t doing it any favors.

  21. It could be cool if they made it with realistic-looking animals and creators who give a crap, but I seriously doubt it.

  22. They are remaking The Secret of Nimh? The original was a masterpiece. One of the best animated movies ever. So many things getting remade nowadays.

  23. The Aristocats had a single mother. The kids were there, and the story was deep as a one inch puddle, but the whole family got equal billing.

    I could see Secret of NIMH being a good franchise if done in the vein of the Redwall series. Having heard what this is being pitched as, yeeeaaahh, I highly doubt this will be a good movie, let alone franchise.

    Studio Executive: (Shrugging) Aah–

    Ron Howard: His best friend’s a talking pie!

    Studio Executive: Sold! Howard, you’ve done it again!

    • Yeah, and it is one of the reasons why I am not as hard on Aristocats as other reviewers are, but said singly mother pairs up pretty fast. Mrs Brisby goes on her adventure alone.

  24. I thought it was technically not a remake? Like I thought it was more supposed to be more based on the book. Anyway’s I still need to watch the original movie. A fantasy/sci-fi movie with a single mother as the main protagonist? Count me in! I think it’s on Netflix.

    I used to love Spongebob and I heard the new movie’s pretty good and it made money. Sad that they mostly advertised the cgi parts though. And it’s success lead to CN coming out of their shells to make an Adventure Time movie, which I am excited for and hope it does well. So hopefully these mean that 2d animation might make some sort of come back. So you can thank Spongebob for something.

    • I hope the Adventure Time movie does well that Regular Show gets a theatrical film. Skips has such a great and fantastic background to be explored just like Benson.

  25. I wouldn’t be inherently against another attempt at NIMH, but it’s sounding like this’ll be one of those bad Dreamworks knockoffs with nothing but burping and farting CG animals.

  26. Throw the new Rescue Rangers into the mix and the Rat-vengers will be complete.

  27. I have no hopes for the Live-Action “Secret of NIMH”. There are certain things that can be accepted in the world of animation that look ridiculous in live-action. Remember, not only were the rats intelligent they also dressed in Human/Shakespearean clothing, with rings and swords etc.
    Another concern is the humans of secret of NIMH were secondary characters and sadly in other films with computer animation live-action usually the focus is put on the human characters instead of the ‘animated’ ones. Ex. The Smurfs 1 & 2, The Chipmunks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I suspect the reason why these rebooters are thinking a franchise is because The Secret of NIMH is based off a children’s book (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) and another children’s book, “The Hobbit” was able to be stretched into three movies.

  28. TheHappySpaceman

    Well then. Now you guys know how I felt when I discovered that the studios were making a CGI remake of Metropolis.

    Yeahhh… if you guys get drunk tonight, save some for me.

    Wait, no, I’m under 21.


  29. Hand-drawn animation was invented in France (by a guy named Émile Cohl) not in the US.

    And to be fair to the “franchise”-idea the originals were a trilogy of books, only the first one of which was adapted in Bluth’s film. (And for the record the second film had nothing to do with the books). Is/are the new film(s) going to be a good representation of the books? Most likely not. But the idea itself is not without merit.

    • The other books were less part of an intended trilogy than the author’s daughter expanding on her father’s universe years after the original book was published. The Bluth movie was made before she did this.

    • Well, Americans also think that Snow White was the first animated movie ever. If they want to believe it, let them. We know better. Also Stop motion was never dead, it lived on in Europe before America “rediscovered” it.

  30. If you liked Song of the Sea, check out The Secret of Roan Inish, a live action film with a similar theme with the Selkie.

    • What’s so great about Song of the Sea is to a large part the animation. When I watched “Secret of Kells” I thought “the art is beautiful, but the animation kind of sucks, it’s pretty much limited animation hidden behind a beautiful design”. But Song of the Sea is perfect! It has the art combined with very fluid animation, creating something really breath-taking.

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