'Time Bandits' May Be Remade As An Action Franchise For Kids

Time Bandits is a wonderful kids movie that also happens to be clever enough for adults. It has grand adventure; weirdness that is both mundane (an impotent fairy tale prince) and outlandish (a troupe of time-traveling thieves); and it is deeply, wonderfully silly. Time Bandits is permeated by a sense of unpredictability that makes the film seem like it came from the mind of either a child or someone deranged. The mind actually belongs to someone in between those states: Terry Gilliam.

Now we may have the chance to see what would have happened if Time Bandits had been created by someone far more sane. The film is being envisioned as fodder for a remake. Or, perhaps, more like a total revamp, as the new film is being designed as the kickoff for a new action franchise. Face, meet palm.

In the midst of a Variety article is this line:

Collins and Ryan are also pushing ahead with a "Time Bandits" reboot and are in talks with a Hollywood co-producer to redo the Terry Gilliam pic as a bigscreen kids action franchise.

What to make of this? Will the time-traveling creation worker bees turned thieves be played by children rather than little people? Is this destined to be essentially The Goonies crossed with the Dr. Peabody WABAC Machine stories from Rocky & Bullwinkle? (The latter of which is already becoming a film.) Will any of the slightly uneasy weirdness that makes Time Bandits so unique end up in the new film(s)? And can it possibly be cast with the same amazing breadth of talent that helped elevate the film into the pantheon of fantasy classics? Probably not.