Everybody has those video game franchises they are passionate about, the ones that either because of childhood nostalgia or simply overall quality mean a great deal to them. The Sly Cooper series is such a thing to me. Those games truly had it all: a stealth platformer series where you got to perform cool heists and occasionally save the day with charming characters and writing in a continuing narrative that could be appreciated by children and adults alike. What wasn’t there to love? I’ve often said that the Sly Cooper series could easily be adapted, which is why the second I heard there was a movie trailer, I dropped everything to go hunt this sucker down.
The trailer here excites and depresses me with every passing second. It was great to hear that both Bentley and Murray had the same voices as they do in the games (Matt Olsen and Chris Murphy respectively), but Sly has a new voice actor for this and that just bugs me. Kevin Miller has been the voice of Sly since day one and to my mind Miller’s voice is that character. I understand voice actors have to change every now and again, but Miller is still available as far as I can tell and the people making this film do have until 2016 to do the right thing and put Miller once again behind the mic.
Here is what Miller sounds like for anybody not in the know:
Moving on, Murray’s redesign just baffles me for two reasons. First, why did they feel the need to redesign him so drastically at all? Second, who thought that the look they gave him was good? Murray already went under a redesign for Sly 2, giving birth to the look of “The Murray” that Sly fans know and love today.
Murray in the games.
The whole timetable for the movie is screwed up as well. If this is supposed to be an adaptation of the first game, as all reports are indicating, then Murray shouldn’t be in his wresting gear and Bentley sure as hell shouldn’t be in his field gear OR driving the Cooper Van, as learning to drive a stick shift isn’t a skill Bentley had until he was forced to learn it in the second game. Speaking of Bentley, we don’t get to see his lower half at any point in the trailer, so we don’t know if they plan to put him in the wheelchair or not. Bentley didn’t receive the injury that paralyzed his legs until the end of Sly 2, but given how loose they are playing with each character’s personal development in the timeline, he very well could start the movie out in the chair. I consider Bentley’s injury and how he deals with it to be some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen in a work of all ages fiction, so you’ll have to forgive me if I seem a little touchy about it.
This has every potential to be good, and in fact I want it to be fantastic, but I do have some serious concerns. I guess we will have to see if the Cooper Gang can pull it off one more time come 2016.
As always, we want to hear from you. Are you excited for the Sly Cooper movie and what other video game series or stories are you passionate about? Let us know in the comments below!
Via IGN