Video games have provided inspiration for some pretty great TV shows, anime, and films. However, they’ve also created some pretty awful adaptations. Some ideas have been taken too far from the source material and turned into something much worse. Others reproduced elements of games but missed their essence.
We’ve seen plenty of films that are inspired by or directly based on video games and there’s many more in development. Here are 5 times a video game actually worked in the context of a film and 5 times it certainly did not.
DIDN’T: SUPER MARIO BROS
The plumbing brothers of Mario and Luigi seem primed and ready for another attempt at a feature film franchise. However, back in the ’90s the original attempt to make a classic film out of this amazing video game franchise quickly ended in disaster.
With strange human versions of characters like Bowser, terrible CGI, awful casting, and a script that may have been written by a fever-wracked child, it’s fair to say that this version of the Mario Bros has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons.
DID: JUMANJI
The Rock has produced some pretty great films over the past few years and actually saved multiple franchises. He, therefore, stepped into this world of jungles and magic, to bring the fictional board game into the modern landscape as a video game.
The video game concepts absolutely work throughout the second film in this ongoing franchise. The idea of having a limited number of lives creates genuine stakes and the strengths and weaknesses of each character are absolutely hilarious.
DIDN’T: PRINCE OF PERSIA
Disney often relies on pre-written material to adapt into films, although that hasn’t always proven to be a success. While they usually use novels and short stories, for this action-adventure they decided to base the plot on the classic game series.
Unfortunately, the movie is largely forgettable, with the executives clearing away the parkour mechanics of the game and not much else. It didn’t quite have the same tone or flavor as its source material and became a poor attempt at illuminating this universe.
DID: RAMPAGE
Another Dwayne Johnson movie on this list and while it’s not exactly the best science fiction movie of the decade, it’s a great attempt at an almost forgotten video game, that introduces the concept to audiences in a mindless and fun action flick.
While it’s of course not Oscar-worthy, you don’t need much more from a film that simply pits giant creatures against one another. It’s a really good time and the kind of simple video game idea that can work well in the correct hands and with the correct cast.
DIDN’T: NEED FOR SPEED
Aaron Paul was fresh off of the success of a little show called Breaking Bad, when this project came to his attention. Based on the ongoing car racing series, there’s not much to this piece apart from brilliant cars going fast.
The movie, unfortunately, didn’t surpass this general idea, with a basic B-movie plot and not even enough racing to keep audiences entertained. This clearly wasn’t the right franchise to adapt. It would be difficult to get a plot out of something like Forza too.
DID: TOMB RAIDER
This was a franchise no one expected to be revived in the way that it was. The Lara Croft films of the early 2000s weren’t exactly what people were hoping for, so the mood going into this blockbuster is that the latest reboot would play out in much the same way.
Surprisingly, this was not the case. While the film is not without its flaws, it absolutely has the potential to carry on as a series and appears to be doing so. The adventuring and expeditions of the games carry over well into the live-action world.
DIDN’T: WARCRAFT
Role-playing games are difficult to adapt as you have to decide what character will serve as the point of view for an audience. Not only this, the lore is so rich and advanced that everything must be exactly right.
What essentially happened here is this film got bogged down by exposition and mythology, until it barely resembled a film with a plot. It certainly has its fans, but this kind of video game does not lend itself well to the movie industry.
DID: WRECK-IT RALPH
This Disney adventure actually takes its cues from a number of video games and even includes characters from some including Pac Man, Sonic and Q*Bert. It’s a charming addition to the video game movie genre and one that appeals to fans and mainstream audiences alike.
The key here was introducing a character that we could follow on a genuine arc. We had fleshed-out video game worlds and all the mechanics worked well for the movie, but the film was never held back by the limitations of a single video game.
DIDN’T: ASSASSINS CREED
With Michael Fassbender in the lead role, many had high hopes for one of the best video game franchises of all time. Unfortunately, too much time was spent in the present, rather than in the body of the past’s Assassin.
Everything that appeals about the video games was almost stripped away from this project and not much remained afterward. It’s a shame considering what this could have been, but perhaps the concept is completely un-adaptable and too difficult to understand in the space of a single film.
DID: DETECTIVE PIKACHU
A Pokemon movie had everyone excited, as we’d never seen Ash and Pikachu in live-action before. But, then the news broke that this would not be based on the anime or even the main line of games, but instead, a Sherlock Holmes based mystery game.
Luckily this was the best place to start from. It slowly introduced this series to new audiences, fleshed out the universe a little, while remaining focused on a core story that no one had preconceived notions about. The Pokemon world looks fantastic at the cinema.
