While doing his press tour for Uncharted last month, Tom Holland was asked what video game franchise would he like to star in next if he was allowed to choose. His answer, while it would make for an unorthodox movie if it came to fruition, referenced a popular video game franchise that's been around for over two decades now: Jak and Daxter. "I would like to make a Jak and Daxter movie, and I would play Jak," Holland explained. "But I would make it at A24, so it's really weird and, like, dark. I would do a really weird live-action version of Jak and Daxter."
Adapting popular video game franchises into films is something Hollywood is more than familiar with. And yet, adapting them competently has proven to be a challenge for them time and time again. The prospect of adapting Jak and Daxter would be a little different compared to what we would usually get with live-action adaptations of video games.
First off, there hasn't been a new installment for the franchise since 2009 with the release of Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier. Since it's been over a decade since any new material has shown itself, and the franchise has been around since 2001, a potential live-action adaptation would be regarded as nostalgic. Since Hollywood is exploiting nostalgia at maximum capacity nowadays, a Jak and Daxter film may just line up exactly with what audiences want to see.
But how they would approach adapting the story? When Hollywood has adapted popular video game franchises in the past, the usual complaints would be that it strayed too far from the source material, thus not understanding what the fans liked about it, or it's pretty much exactly like the source material without, thus making it a retread of what they've already seen. In other words, they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.
So how to make a live-action Jak and Daxter film that perfectly balances bringing in fresh while not straying too far from what's already been established? Well, anyone who's played the first Jak and Daxter installment that knows a thing or two about films would immediately think a live-action film of the video game would be best executed as a buddy cop comedy. Besides the standout gameplay, the franchise was well-regarded for Daxter's funny quips and catchphrases along the way.
Even though Jak does not talk throughout the game's first installment, a live-action adaptation could use that to their advantage. Of course, with someone like Tom Holland playing Jak as the titular character, maybe they wouldn't make him a mute, but rather someone who has to come out of his own shell. The dynamic between Jak and Daxter in the film would be the selling point. So what about the plot?
Well, much like the original story, with Daxter turning into an Ottsel, the story would revolve around the two of them going on an adventure to both cure Daxter to turn him back into a human while also saving the world. Of course, that is staying true to the material, so what would be something new to bring to the fans without getting too far away from it?
The difference is that, while the story would march to the same beats, perhaps Daxter's transformation happens not at the beginning of the story, but more towards the end of Act I. Instead, the film's first act would establish Daxter as the true hero who also gets along well with everyone with his sense of humor. Jak wants what Daxter has, believing that being a hero would get him the admiration that Daxter has.
So, after Daxter's transformation, they set out to get him back to normal. Of course, Jak does it for his friend, but he also sees it as an opportunity to prove himself as a hero. Jak and Daxter received as many good reviews as it did because of its open-world as a platformer. With Jak striving to show how heroic he is, the film would emphasize how many missions he would have to do to accomplish his goal to become a hero, which exhausts him in the process because of the obstacles and his inexperience.
It would get to a point where he can't take it anymore that Jak says out loud that he wishes he had turned into the Ottsel instead of Daxter because at least Daxter would know what he's doing. Daxter, who, up to this point, had been serving as the comic relief (as a defense mechanism to cope with his transformation), finally drops his guard and tells Jak that his reputation as the hero everyone can call on came from experience more than anything. What Jak would take to heart from Daxter is that a hero is not defined by how admired he is, but by his will to act.
This breathes new life into Jak on his journey. He remembers that his ultimate goal was to cure Daxter above all else. When he finally lets go of his desire to be admired, it helps him become the hero he originally sought out to be. Over time, Daxter sees how much growth Jak is going through so that, when they reach their end goal, they're given a choice: either save the world from the substance that harmed Daxter or cure Daxter.
Remembering the influence Daxter has had on him, Jak wants to choose the latter, but Daxter, knowing how this journey has morphed Jak into a hero that's better than Daxter ever was, knows the right decision is the former. Jak gets the admiration he wants as a hero, but he lets everyone know that Daxter was the real hero, because even when given the choice to undo the unfair atrocity that ruined his life, he still chose what was best for everyone.
After all that, the movie would also give a hint at the end that not only is not all hope lost with Daxter returning to his human form after all, but maybe what happened to him was not a bad stroke of luck. Thus, piquing the audience's interest in a sequel.
Now this movie pitch doesn't sound dark or strange like a movie made by A24 studios typically would, but maybe that would be saved for the franchise's next installment, which was much darker and was a way different in terms of gameplay and style from its predecessor. Given Holland's status as a heartthrob who has been involved with multiple adventures, this would only continue that while giving some new flavor to what he usually does.
The only difficulty would be deciding who plays Daxter alongside Jak. Holland's acted alongside big names like Will Smith, Chris Pratt, and most recently, Mark Wahlberg. The safe choice would be Ryan Reynolds knowing how well-known he is for his comedic chops, but if studios really wanted to try something new, maybe they should try someone who isn't experienced in something like this.
But, most importantly, this would be a Jak and Daxter film that stays true to the material enough while managing to bring in something new. With any luck, it would start a campaign for Naughty Dog to come up with the video game franchise's franchise's next game. Isn't that what fans want more than anything?