Yeah, there's not much info yet, but there's both good and bad news:
The good news is Neil Burger (I haven't seen his films) looks like a good director who is going to take the material seriously instead of just using the material as a spring board for fart jokes. From everything I've read about the director, I think we might (crosses fingers) actually be in good hands.
I agree with you Grograman, that while Frisby was timely when it was written, it is timely once again, maybe even more so. People are ready to think about this message, but I think it will take a talented director and crew to bring that message to the screen in a way that is entertaining. Bluth saw the problem and dodged it, choosing a completely different path. Burger seems like the person who is going to take what's good about O'Brien's story and run with it--I hope so!
Visually I'm worried too. These aren't great times for animated films, and we can speculate that because Dreamworks is owned by Paramount, perhaps they might borrow (or farm out) some of their talent. I hate putting it all back on Burger's shoulders, but if he doesn't push, the film will look like every other CG/live action film (IE G-Force, Alvin and the chipmunks.) Still, everything is speculation at this point, they could go with hand puppets for all we know!
What actually has me most worried is the executive producer being Cary Granat, who I have no personal issue with, but he's the guy behind all the big obvious family franchises that would turn NIMH into mush in 5 seconds. The teaming makes sense because Burger's never done a family film before, but how long a leash will Burger be doled out? The fact I can't actually imagine Mrs. Frisby as a working family film (outside of it being produced by the folks who did Watership Down & Plague Dogs) makes me really suspicious, especially coming from a big studio.
I'm going to remain hopeful, but wow there are a LOT of potential pitfalls here!
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