By Odds are you don’t remember Hong Kong Phooey. That stuff was old even when I was a youngster. Basically, it’s a cartoon about a dog that knows karate and fights crime, while being hilariously incompetent. The show was on during that magical time when Cartoon Network still played old cartoons, though the time they allowed for them got shorter and shorter as the days went on. Today, it was announced that Eddie Murphy will be voicing Hong Kong Phooey in a live-action/animation hybrid feature adaptation of the 1970s cartoon. Details about the project are, at the moment, fairly scarce.
I can’t say I’m surprised that something like this would be announced so soon after The Smurfs‘s success at the box office. They fact that they’re going down the exact same road as The Smurfs, in terms of the animation/live action combination is just further proof. It’s also safe to say that, given Eddie Murphy’s track record of late, this film won’t be terribly good. If nothing else, we’ll appreciate it as the one that paved the way for my dream Grape Ape movie. Because the world needs more massive purple monkeys.
[Via Deadline]