6 Ways To Ace A Captain Planet Movie
Can Hollywood make a Captain Planet movie before Climate Change ends the world?
Dear Hollywood: Fans have been clamoring for a Captain Planet movie for years. And given the political rise of millennial, liberal, socially conscious environmentalists - in other words, the exact demographic that a Captain Planet movie would cater to - now would be the perfect time to make it.
Between the overwhelming science concerning climate change and the free 'outrage marketing' that would come from conservative 'eco-denialists', 2020 would be a great year to release such a movie.
Add in the optics of what is termed the 'Greta Thunberg Effect' and how so many people, both climate change deniers and supporters, who have said things like "Children cannot 'lead' us" concerning fixing the ecological state of the world, and it seems as though the reintroduction of Captain Planet could provide a salient contribution to climate discourse. The U.N. Secretary general is quoted as saying that its up to the youth of today to "rescue the planet," and that's just what Captain Planet is all about.
A Captain Planet movie would be just the right thing for the youth to jump into with both feet. So here's six points the production would need to hit that would let any studio who secures the rights to the multi-colored hero secure a pretty solid reception.
6. Make It Generational
Look, let's be honest – Captain Planet is a nineties baby kind of thing. Running from 1990 to 1996, it is filled with tons of references to the decade and the characters are very nineties-esque. And we're not just talking about how Linka was from the USSR in the original season, because that place still existed at that time.
Cast age-appropriate stars like Idris Elba or even give Darius McCray some much-needed (and much-deserved) screen time as a middle-aged Kwame. You could even cast LeVar Burton in the role, since he voiced the original character.
Likewise, throw some of these 40-something year olds into the roles of our favorite Planeteers: Michael Peña as Ma-Ti, Ethan Hawke or Bradley Cooper as Wheeler, Diane Kruger or Olga Kurylenko as Linka, or Christy Chung as Gi.
Make the story be that these Planeteers have served their time, they're tired and jaded, and ready to retire – so they seek out and train the new breed of Planeteers. This opens up the plot to center around the Generation Z cast – folks like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Keke Palmer, Kyle Massey, or save poor Wenwen Han from having the Karate Kid remake be her biggest film credit.
The point is that the story would be both an origin and an ending, passing the torch on to the next generation.