Suffice to say, it sank like a stone with critics and, despite making money in its initial release, has vanished from our pop-cultural memory.īut Goodman’s second cartoon adaptation offers very different lessons, soaring on the strengths of its vivid splashes of color and bold editing choices. The first was a mostly forgettable live-action Flintstones, which tried to bring dramatic depth and complexity to characters intended as parodies in the first place. John Goodman’s career offers two different examples of how a cartoon adaptation can succeed or fail. Flesh-and-blood actors have many physical limitations, which means that adapting cartoons for the big screen in a live-action format runs the risk of diminishing their zaniness and elasticity.