Hong Kong PhooeyWith the fairly recent, and quite significant, flops of the Yogi Bear, Garfield, and Speed Racer cartoon-to-movie adaptations, guess it was only a matter of time before Hollywood turned its filthy meathooks to the lower tier of classic Saturday morning kid shows in hopes that no one would notice.

Alcon Entertainment have announced a live-action/animated adaptation of Hong Kong Phooey, a short-lived Hanna-Barbera cartoon series that ran for a brief 16 episodes back in the 1970s. Eddie Murphy has been tapped to voice "the number one super guy" (originally voiced by Scatman Crothers) who, because of mystic powers, can turn himself into a masked kung fu crime fighter that calls himself Hong Kong Phooey.

In addition to voicing the character of Donkey in the box-office hit Shrek franchise, Murphy was also the voice of Mushu, the Dragon, in the successful animated epic Mulan. Murphy will next be seen in the comedies Tower Heist, co-starring Ben Stiller from Universal Studios and A Thousand Words, from DreamWorks.

We're a bit reluctant to even mention who will direct this ill-advised adaptation lest you, our dear reader, might lose all interest and move on to your next daily read, but Alex Zamm, (yes, he of Dr. Doolittle: Million Dollar Mutts and Tooth Fairy 2 fame) will direct the project with Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, and Brett Ratner producing.

State Johnson and Kosove about the project: "We could not be happier that Eddie Murphy will star as Phooey. There is no overstating his contributions to cinema, and to such enduring stars of family entertainments such as Shrek and Dr. Doolittle. We look forward to watching him re-imagine yet another classic character."

Based on the 70's cult classic Hanna-Barbera animated TV series, a mild-mannered dog named PENRY (Murphy) stumbles into a mystic ceremony and is accidentally granted mystic powers, including the ability to walk, talk, and do kung fu. Under the tutelage of his kung fu master, Penry dons a costume and becomes Hong Kong Phooey, and with the help of his trusting sidekick Spot the cat cleans up a rogues gallery of wacky criminals.

Following is the catchy intro used in front of the 1974 cartoon series. And no, that's not Underdog, but we're unable to confirm whether his sidekick is indeed Cheshire Cat.