Hell just keeps popping up. So, there is a Dante’s Inferno video game coming out and there is movie coming out that is based on the video game. Now, there is another movie coming out; this time, it is an animated version.

Hell depicted in a cartoon? Well, it . . . → Read More: Dante’s Inferno – Animated?]]>

Yosemite Sam in Hell

Hell just keeps popping up. So, there is a Dante’s Inferno video game coming out and there is movie coming out that is based on the video game. Now, there is another movie coming out; this time, it is an animated version.

Hell depicted in a cartoon? Well, it has been done before (see image above as Yosemite Sam decends via an escalator). But this time the cartoon is a full-length movie … I think. This movie will go straight to DVD and will probably be available at the same time as the video game and may even come packaged with the video game. Why? Because this animated movie is headed up by EA, makers of the video game.

EA has done this before with one of their other franchises, Dead Space. It proved to be successful (so much so that apparently there is a theatrical-release movie in the works). It is good to see that EA is going all out with the Inferno. “A” for effort, so far.

Going one step further, EA is having separate animation studios each handle a different circle of Dante’s Hell. That means nine different studios designing one circle each. Now that is a creative approach. Each area of the Inferno would have a different tone, look, and feel. Hmm, this direct-to-DVD release could possibly turn out to be the best of these three takes on the Inferno (the movie, the video game, and the cartoon).

I continue to watch this news with great interest.

Source: Ben Fritz report from Variety

The news continues for Dante’s Inferno and its adaptation to a video game by EA. Yes, a movie is being made, too, but like all things in Dante’s vision of hell, it is all backwards. The movie is based on the video game, and the video game is based . . . → Read More: Dante’s Inferno Movie – Writer Confirmed]]>

The news continues for Dante’s Inferno and its adaptation to a video game by EA. Yes, a movie is being made, too, but like all things in Dante’s vision of hell, it is all backwards. The movie is based on the video game, and the video game is based on the epic poem (loosely).

The adaptations made to the poem in order to make it a video game are quite understandable. Video games are about action, fantasy, and interactivity. The actual plot of the original poem does not make for the greatest interactive experience. EA had to heat things up a bit (har har, pun intended) by making your hero a warrior from the Crusades and not an exiled poet. You have a weapon, a scythe (and a crucifix from what the trailers present), and not a pen. In video games, the sword is mightier than the pen (unless the game is Okami). Yet, for movies, they are nothing without a good script.

Enter Dan Harris, recently named the writer for Dante’s Inferno‘s screenplay. He co-wrote X-Men 2. Cool. He co-wrote Superman Returns. Hmm … well, okay. There is some excellent drama in both of those movies–pretty good action, too. Not too bad a choice, I guess. But basing the movie on the video game, to me, is a missed opportunity. The original text is rich with themes that would translate quite well to a cinematic experience–especially the visuals.

In the end, however, I’m fine with the video game character of Dante being, more or less, an action hero prototype, but the movie character of Dante ought to be someone with which I can identify. I should experience his journey through Hell through his eyes–he should feel how I would feel when encountered with this sojourn in the afterlife. He should be a sympathetic character; instead, he is going to (probably) be some wise-cracking meathead. This could be bad. This could be hell.

Sources: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001343.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

http://kotaku.com/5181302/dantes-inferno-the-movie-has-a-writer