Not What You Think… ‘The Wild Bunch’ (2009)

I couldn’t resist. I was digging around on the web for something else and just by chance happened upon this little movie-in-production. By the way, sorry for the crappy image above, but I literally couldn’t find anything bigger or better, so I had to enlarge this one.

The answer is no. This is not a remake (per se) of the classic 1969 western, nor is it an animated version (per se). What it is, as best as I can determine, is an animated kid’s tale about a “group of genetically modified crops [that] battle against a field of wildflowers.”

Yeah, you read that correctly. To be honest, I’m not even sure it’s specifically intended for kids. It does, however, seem to be playing off ‘The Wild Bunch’ through it’s title and this one image I could find. I just find it amazing that someone thought this was a brilliant idea for an animated movie.

I am assuming the theme is intended to be a way of promoting someone’s views on the struggle between major agricultural corporations and independent farmers, you know… the whole genetically-modified organisms debate? The problem is, that entire “theme” is guaranteed to pass well above the heads of any child and likely even most adults. How many kids do you know even understand what “genetically-modified” means?

The movie will star child-actress Abigail Breslin (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl) and country-singer/actor Willie Nelson. The cast is also rumored to be include Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein and Elizabeth Hurley.

‘The Wild Bunch’ is being direct by Douglas Wood and was written by Philip LaZebnik, who is best known for his work writing for Disney (Pocohantas, Mulan, The Prince of Egypt).

It’s not April Fool’s Day. That was 2 days ago. Oh, you don’t believe me? Fine, check out the IMDB page.