‘Sly Cooper’ Animated Feature Film Announced for 2016

Last week, Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment announced that a Sly Cooper feature film was in the works for a projected release date of early 2016.

Based on the video game series of the same name, Sly Cooper follows the adventures of the thieving raccoon protagonist Sly Cooper, and his friends Bentley the turtle, and Murray the hippo. Stealing only from other criminals, this gang of thieves has charmed gamers for years and has made a name for themselves in the PlayStation family. Check out the teaser trailer below:

“Sly Cooper is a kinetic and comedic heist film that tells the story of Sly Cooper, an orphaned raccoon thief, along with his childhood friends and partners in crime, Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo. In the film, Sly learns of his birth family’s secret legacy; that he comes from a long line of talented and international thieves. Endowed with this knowledge, Sly and his friends are catapulted into a global adventure as they race to reassemble pieces of an ancient book holding The Cooper Clan’s family secrets before it can fall into the hands of Clockwerk – an evil Russian metallic owl bent on ending the Cooper family line. From romantic Parisian backdrops to the lush mountains of China, gritty film noir meets bright, colorful graphic novels in this origin story of the world’s greatest thief-turned-hero.”

As a longtime fan of the series, I am very much on the fence about the film. Both the character redesigns and the jump from established cell-shading to full CG are a bit jarring, and it appears the original voice actor for Sly Cooper will not be reprising his role. However, the characterizations, pacing, and overall feel of the trailer are right in line with the original source material.

Hollywood and video games have always has a bad relationship (animated or otherwise), with none of the adaptations receiving nothing more than mixed reviews (though Wreck-It-Ralph did make good strides). Many will be watching to see if Sly Cooper (or other animated Rainmaker video game movie Ratchet and Clank) can finally break that trend.

The film will be directed by Kevin Munroe and be released in 3D in 2016.

Are you excited for the ‘Sly Cooper’ animated film? What do you think about the trailer?

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