One thing is accurate, and that’s the fact that anyone hearing the idea that Blazing Saddles is slated to get a remake would probably get pretty hot under the collar, provided that they know the movie well enough anyway. Those that aren’t familiar with it or didn’t like the movie might not care, or could possibly be hopeful that there will be a more PC version of the movie coming out. Well, that’s where some people might actually be happy about this, while others might just be confused. Blazing Saddles is apparently becoming Blazing Samurai, and the format is switching over to animation, with the characters becoming cats and dogs. Apparently the gist of it is that the main character wants to become a samurai, but being a dog that’s trying to protect a city that’s populated entirely by cats, this appears to be a huge twist that will make the movie make sense and draw another parallel with the original movie. Is anyone else getting confused as to why they’re calling this a remake? In any case, it does sound like there’s already a lineup of voice actors that should be impressive since Michael Cera and Samuel L. Jackson are going to be involved with the project among others. But seriously, it’s almost as though someone decided to take out pretty much everything that made this movie funny and then decided to say ‘oh, but it’s just like it, with a twist!’. Yes, that’s sarcasm, but it feels warranted.
In a way, this project almost feels patronizing in a way, but at the same time, it could be something that’s both funny and family-friendly at the same time. Let’s be honest, Blazing Saddles was not a family movie since not only did Mel Brooks’ comedy go to a level that few could possibly hope to reach, but it also made use of a lot of details that kids might actually understand but not comprehend in a way that would make sense. Brooks has been a master of comedy for quite some time, but it’s true that his content sometimes manages to offend a lot of people that don’t know how to take a joke in any way, shape, or form. If anyone’s been paying attention he’s been using racist remarks and material throughout the years to make fun of racism, or at least that’s what it feels like since taking it seriously would be utterly depressing since he does a lot of things in his movies that could be taken the wrong way. But switching it up and saying that the animated movie that loosely follows Blazing Saddles is a remake is a bit confusing since it’s kind of like a toddler saying that they’re doing something like they’re parents when in truth what they’re doing has no bearing on anything said parent has ever done. In other words, the two are just barely related by deed, or even by the story.
Let’s be fair and say that it could be something interesting to take a look at, since it something different and it’s attempting to take a cue from a comedy movie that many people still care about and do something positive with it. Blazing Saddles is still a controversial movie to many people since the content and subject material aren’t bound to change, and even in their own time, they were considered a bit tongue in cheek since there weren’t a lot of people that could get away with this kind of humor. Something about the way Mel Brooks delivers the material and the manner in which the actors were able to deliver their lines just made it that much better since despite the racist overtones and the language and the gratuitous use of several themes it was still insanely funny since Brooks had a way of presenting the movie in a way that made it apparent that he was, in fact, making light of the whole matter. That’s why this new show doesn’t make a lot of sense when it’s called a remake, as it’s not really coming from the same place as Blazing Saddles, apart from the fact that there’s a dog that wants to be a samurai and he’s looking to do this in a city full of cats. Maybe there’s something I’m missing, or maybe it’s just best to tell those in charge ‘okay, you run with that’, and simply let it be. It’s interesting at times to see the thought processes of others and how they make a logical jump from one place to the next when it comes to story ideas. This one really begs the question of how and why this idea came to be since there appears to be only a couple of ideas that could have possibly come from the movie. But maybe the upcoming project will surprise us.
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