- Get The Big Picture

Of all the Looney Tunes cartoon characters, my favorite was, is, and always will be Marvin the Martian. I know some people love the Tasmanian Devil, and there are those who think Bugs Bunny can't be topped, no offense to the great Daffy Duck. Having said that, I'm not too thrilled that the studio is planning to make a feature film centered on Marvin, but only because of what they plan to do with it. Or maybe it fits better to say what they plan to do to it.

A sinking feeling sat it when I read in Variety that the goal was to make the film a combination of live action and CGI along the lines of Racing Stripes. Well, as long as you're aiming high, I guess...

As a business move, it makes some sense. Warner is tied to Alcon Entertainment for the next five years or so, with over a dozen movies to be distributed by the studio over that period. Marvin has some instant recognition, although the question about how big that audience truly is deserves to be asked. But for Warner Bros. it's easier to bring an already established property out of mothballs than to invent something new.

So why the live action-CGI combo? Four words: Alvin and the Chipmunks. That gawdawful movie made so much money that it's going to be the wave of the future until one of them suddenly goes belly-up. Let's just hope that one movie isn't Marvin the Martian, a fun little character that at least deserves a moment in the spotlight. Though we don't have a writer or director in place yet, the story is likely to revolve around Marvin coming to Earth to destroy Christmas, only he can't because he's trapped in a gift box. The only thing I can think is he's mistaken for a toy. That's a pretty flimsy setup if you ask me.

One nugget of good news comes out of all of this: We learned that it's Marvin the Martian's 60th birthday this month; he made his debut in Haredevil Hare, which was released on July 24th, 1948.