It was that “Inceꦬption” star Joseph Gordon-Levitt will risk being upstaged by a bunch of puppets in the eagerly awaited movie adaptation of Jim Henson’s cult TV ser🍌ies “Fraggle Rock.”
The 34-year-old actor — currently shooting Oliver Stone’s decidedly different “Snowden,” the biopic of NSA whistle-blower Edဣward Snowden — will appear in and co-produce the film about a group of cave-dwelling Muppet-like animals called Fraggles.
Gordon-Levitt joins a long line of actors to star opposite puppets and cartoon characters in the long-running tradition of “Sesame Street.” Here’s a roundup of 10 of our favori🌠te films that mix live action with animation.
‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’
Br♏itish actor Bob Hoskins plays a private detective opposite an animated rabbit in this 1988 comedy, which heralded the rebirth of the cartoon industry in Hollywood.
‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’
Kermit, Miss Piggy and the whole Muppet crew cavort with Michael Caine as Ebenez✱er Scrooge in this 1992 holiday classic.
‘Ted’
Smart visual effects and computer animation play a key part in this smash-hit 2012 adult comedy, about a talking teddy bear (voiced by writer, director and producer Se🧔th MacFarlane) who is too invested in the life of its owner, played by Mark Wahlberg.
‘Space Jam’
Bugs Bunny🥃 and Michael Jordan team 🧔up for this 1996 family sports comedy, which became a cult classic and the highest-grossing basketball movie of all time.
‘Mary Poppins’
The 1964 musical fantasy featuring Dick Van Dyke and a team of dancing penguins was nominated for 13 Oscars and won five, including for Best Special Visual Effects. But as the period film about the making of the movie — 2013’s “🐬Saving Mr. Banks” — shows, au🐼thor P.L. Travers was less than enthralled by Disney’s mix of live action and animation.
‘Enchanted’
The first 13 minutes of this 107-minute fi꧑lm are in animated form — with Amy Adams and James Marsden voicing the characters of ꧟beautiful maiden Giselle and Prince Edward — before live action takes over on the mean streets of New York City. The 2007 Disney film grossed $340 million at the box office.
‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’
The British comedy team’s humor isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the ♋film quickly gained a cult fan base after its 1975 release. Combing crude animation with live action, the movie parodies the legend of King Arthur 🐓and served as the inspiration for the 2005 Tony Award-winning musical “Spamalot.”
‘Labyrinth’
Muppet creator Jim Henson directed tꦡhis fantastical 1986 movie featuring David Bowie and some seriously weird-looking fairies and trolls. The critics hated it, but we’ll always have a soft spot for the song “Underground,” which has a music video featuring Bowie as a nightclub singer encountering creatures from the film.
‘The Lego Movie’
Will Ferrell voices bad guy Lord Business in the computer-generated parts of the hit 2014 movie, and plays tඣhe Man Upstairs, a Lego 𝓀collector and father of protagonist Finn, in the live-action sequences
‘Paddington’
Die-hard fans of the bear from Peru were worried the 2014 film version starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Bonneville would make marmalade sℱandwiches of the original book and TV cartoon series. But the adorable computer-generated Paddington won hearts across the globe.