7 Awesome Saturday Morning Cartoons Based on Movies

There are many films that have been turned into cartoons over the years. A lot of these cartoons are great television shows based off of great films. Others, however, missed the mark. These are some of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons based on successful movies.

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS (1986–1991)
The Real Ghostbusters in based off the hilarious 1984 movie Ghostbusters. Its called The REAL Ghostbusters because after the success of the film, the holder of the Ghostbusters trademark (Filmation) developed a show based off they’re original property, a 1970’s comedy show. Columbia had to obtain the right from Filmation to use the name for the movie and Filmation was trying to cash in on the 1984 film’s success. The Real Ghostbusters is one of the more successful animated shows of all time and ran for seven seasons. It followed pretty closely to the film counterpart, all except for the fact that Egon was drawn with blonde hair.

BEETLEJUICE (1989–1991)
Beetlejuice is one of the movie that was changed the most when it was transformed into a cartoon. While Beetlejuice was the antagonist for the film, in the cartoon he was the hero. He was best friends with Lydia in the cartoon and she would call him everyday after school to hang out in The Neitherworld to escape the boredom of school work or her parents. There would be a number of different adventures that Beetlejuice and Lydia would get into and Beetlejuice would always be able to get them out using his magic powers. Also changed in the cartoon, Lydia lived only with her parents. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis’s characters made no appearance. Overall, this show seemed to have a decent amount of creativity behind it. Instead of relying on the film to give them all they’re ideas, they made something new and it worked.

TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEPER (1993–1997)
Tales From The Cryptkeeper was essentially a Twilight Zone for children. The Cryptkeeper would introduce each episode and give some back story or offer an anecdote based on the theme of the story. Tales From The Cryptkeeper is unique in that its based off a tv series, Tales From The Crypt, that’s based off a movie of the same name. The plot of the film revolves around story telling as well, only in the film the Cryptkeeper tells five stories telling people how they are going to die. The cartoon is a little more lighthearted for sure, but it had a decently spooky vibe for a kid’s show.

THE TOXIC CRUSADERS (1991–1993)
Based of The Toxic Avenger, The Toxic Crusaders gave Toxie his own Super Friends style gang of mutated heroes. Rounding out the group was a military man who could control plants, a half scientist-half surfer dude, a junkyard dog joined with a homeless man, and a pilot who crash landed in pepper and gained sneezing abilities. Despite this great cast of characters, the show didn’t do so hot and only lasted one season.

ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE (1995) & THE MASK (1995–1997)
Two of Jim Carrey’s more popular movies were turned into cartoons, which is fitting because he basically was a cartoon character in these movies. It translated well into a Saturday morning cartoon because he had an animal sidekick in each film that could be expanded on in animation. Jim Carrey’s acting style played well for the basis of the cartoons designs. The adult oriented humor was dumbed down into potty humor, but it worked quite well for what they’re going for.

POLICE ACADEMY (1988)
If you get through all seven of the Police Academy films, and watch the 1997 television series and still want to watch more Police Academy, then you are in luck. There was an animated version of Police Academy produced in 1988. The cartoon takes place inbetween the fourth and fifth films in the series and stars twelve of the characters from movies. The producers of the cartoon also added in a group of K-9 police dogs so allow the watcher to be sure they were watching a cartoon.

LITTLE SHOP (1991)
Little Shop seemed like a desperate pitch for a cartoon that somehow happened to land. It was based off of the musical horror-comedy, Little Shop of Horrors. In the film Audrey II is a talking plant who turns out to have an evil streak. He causes a lot of problems for Seymour, a man who works at the florist where Audrey II arrives. Audrey II and the mild mannered Seymour’s relationship is much friendlier in the animated series. They are pals in the cartoon and Seymour is usually aided by Audrey II, who helps him using his hypnotic powers. Audrey II isn’t psychotic or as focused on eating people in the cartoon. Also, Audrey II was renamed Junior. Only four episodes of the animated show were produced.