Sly Cooper film trailer and my concerns about the film.

     The other day I came upon a teaser trailer for a CGI film based on one of my favorite game franchises: Sly Cooper. This popular series, created by Sucker Punch Productions (You might also know them for the Infamous video game series) saw 3 games on the PlayStation 2 and a 4th game on the PlayStation 3 albeit by a different developer (Sanzaru) which had previously created an HD collection of the original games for PS3, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The series centers around Sly Cooper and associates, a gang of master thieves and their heists and shenanigans. The official trailer is below for anyone who wishes to rise above their ignorant ways who hasn't seen it yet.

     Now the trailer has a few things that worry me. Before I start whining like an over-entitled fan-boy addressing my concerns, I would like to assert that I am very excited about this film and the opportunities it presents to the Sly Cooper franchise, video game film adaptations, and gaming culture/industry in general. (More on those  potential opportunities later on in the article.)

    To start, I'm worried that this film is moving away from the Looney-toons-esque atmosphere and style or rather, forgetting about it. The familiar and nostalgic "BLAM!" that would appear on the screen whenever sly KO'd an enemy as well as the signature sounds effects and stylistic elements that gave this series its unique name in the child-friendly platformer (genre of gaming, other examples include the ever-popular Mario series, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Portal, etc.) scene. I understand that general audiences would probably not be thrilled to see cel-shaded graphics on the silver screen but I'd certainly get a raging boner love to see such interesting visuals on the big screen.

Sly Cooper stole my virginity has always been a very pretty series.

     Now I know that many "concerned citizens" are already declaring that this will be a horrible film and a disgrace to the franchise (Just read through the YouTube comments on the trailers if you would like to know more.) due simply to such minor details as pants. The characters in this trilogy have always had a notorious habit of free-balling not wearing pants. I understand that character design change is an inevitable reality when making the jump from one creative mind to another, and the inclusion of pants seems like a minor thing to me. I'm personally more worried about the film rendition of THE Murray (The THE is always necessary) as he looks about as likely to beat his wife as he is to eat a doughnut or THUNDER-FLOP onto enemies.I am more okay with the film iterations of Sly and Bentley though.

Don't rustle Murray's jimmies.

     Now for the positives. The fact alone that this film is was even pitched and is currently being made means that  Sly Cooper is breaking (stealing?) new ground. Video game films are notorious for not being of arguably sub-par quality. (Never again, Super Mario Bros.) The film industry still looks at the gaming industry as that dorky little brother that you don't try to acknowledge and hide from your friends, but this film easily has the potential to be a step in the right direction for video game films. This film also has the original voice actors for our dynamic anthropomorphic trio, so +1 for consistency!

     I am curious to see what Carmelita (Sly's on again/off again Interpol police inspector love interest) will look like. I hope it's better than the rather awkward Sly 4 slutty Carmelita that only wore a sports bra and a miniskirt and sounded like a loud, angry, and obnoxious teenage girl acted completely out of her traditional character.

Maybe we'd know what the fox said if they didn't change her voice actress every game.

     Overall, I am cautiously optimistic for this film, and you should be too. The studio making this film is clearly doing their research and paying their respects to the source material (the games). It has a few things that will bother me and probably other long-term fans of the series, but such a thing is inevitable when attempting anything like this. I just ask that each and every one of you approach this with an open mind and heart. I only hope they have music befitting a film of such a musically glorious franchise. What are your thoughts on this film and the series in general? Leave a comment, thanks for reading, and remember to wear pants.