Apparently we are starting to reach the bottom of the barrel for film adaptations of comics. Finally, right?
A live action adaptation of the “Dilbert” comic series is becoming a reality and director Ken Kwapis (“He’s Just Not That Into You,” “License to Wed,” “Dunston Checks In”) has been named the man to make it happen. Dilbert is of course that serialized comic strip that likes to sneak out of the comics section of the newspaper and pretend it belongs in the business section, probably so it can hide from all the other comic strips trying to kick its ass. Every day, Dilbert dutifully tries to get his job done but is constantly thwarted by his co-workers and boss.
The choice of Kwapis for director is undoubtedly linked to his experience with directing a dozen episodes for the American version of “The Office” including the series pilot. In his feature film career, he’s handed over as much as anyone could expect based on the content of the projects he jumps on (was there anyone out there thinking “License to Wed” had an enormous amount of actual potential absent from the final product?). So if there really has to be a Dilbert movie for some reason, Kwapis actually makes a lot of sense to easily lead it to its inevitable mediocrity.
The thought of reworking the animal characters in the comic (Dogbert, Catbert, etc) for a live action film isn’t going to win any supporters of the project. We’ve already been terrorized with not one, but two Garfield movies starring the titular cat realized in horrifying CG. We’d love to see the Dilbert film blow everyone’s expectations on this front and go in a 2D animation direction with these characters. With Robert Zemeckis saying a “Roger Rabbit” sequel would introduce 3D characters, someone else has to carry the torch on this one.
The leap from serialized newspaper comic strips to the big screen feels even greater than the transition that super hero comic book characters have to make. Try to think of a daily comic strip you’d love to see brought to life for a feature film. The characters are built around surviving three panel story arcs whereas their super hero cousins at least exist to serve an actual storyline that can neatly be cut into an issue format (or movie franchise).
In the late 90’s there was an animated cartoon series of Dilbert that lasted two seasons. That iteration was somewhat accepted by the Dilbert fanbase, but it’s hard to believe that somebody decided that a decade after that attempt is the perfect time to produce a feature film based on the same characters. More recently you can find some online animated shorts based on Dilbert strips as seen below; don’t forget to picture this magic on the big screen:
