I've been waiting for updates on the Candy Land movie for too long. Seriously. Sure, the board game is a luck-based exercise in colored cards and turn-taking, but the characters in the enchanted gumdrop forest aren't terrible ideas for film characters. Queen Frostine, anyone? The wicked sorcerer Lord Licorice? Emily Blunt and Adrien Brody, respectively! But a new bit of news casts a sugary pall on the proceedings: The film may be a candy-fied take on Lord of the Rings.
According to screenwriter Jonathan Aibel, who is co-writing the sucrosity with Glenn Berger, Candy Land's may borrow a little marzipan from Middle Earth.
Jonathan Aibel, who co-wrote Kung Fu Panda 2 with Glenn Berger, told EW at yesterday's Hollywood premiere that they have ambitious plans: "We envision it as 'Lord of The Rings,' but set in a world of candy."
"We don't see it as a movie based on a board game, although it has characters from that world and takes the idea of people finding themselves in a world that happens to be made entirely of candy where there are huge battles going on," Berger says. "We are going for real comedy, real action, and real emotions at stake."
At least the words "real comedy" made its way into the description. A chilly, textbook-serious adaptation of Candy Land is not what I need at my merry multiplex. Aibel's idea has me thinking of the technicolor whimsicality and surprise darkness of Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- which is not wonderful news, but could be OK. At worst, it'll be Gnomeo and Julet for an even younger set.
Next board game update we need? Some news on that Gore Verbinski Clue joint! Lesley Ann Warren as Mrs. White, please!
• Candy Land screenwriters: 'We imagine it as 'Lord of the Rings,' but set in a world of candy [EW]