When Hollywood sets their sights on an adaptation, you never quite know how it's going to turn out.  Is the tone going to be similar to the original and recreate what made it endearing, or will it be a tongue-in-cheek contemporary take?  Either approach can fail spectacularly or succeed beyond all expectations.  Now when the property in question is the short-lived TV series Manimal, it's easy to write it off.  Enter Adam McKay and Will Ferrell.  You know what you're getting with Gary Sanchez Productions, who might just be the best team to tackle the oddity that will be the Sony Pictures Animation live-action/animation hybrid, Manimal.  Hit the jump for more.

Heat Vision reports that McKay and Ferrell will be producing Manimal with Key & Peele's executive producers Jay Martel and Ian Roberts set as screenwriters; the pairs also collaborated on the upcoming comedy Get Hard. The 80s series starring Simon MacCorkindale and Melody Anderson centered on "Dr. Jonathan Chase, a wealthy doctor with a mysterious past who morphed into animals in order to help the police fight crime."  Though it lasted only eight episodes and never found a friend in critics, Manimal did develop a cult following.  McKay explains its allure in his own words:

"Like The Catcher in the Rye or The Sound and the Fury, Manimal has always been one of those elusive projects every producer dreams of taking to the silver screen. I know the movie will be funny and entertaining but will it be the first film to win a Pulitzer? We'll just have to see."

I'm morbidly curious to see what McKay/Ferrell can do with Manimal, but it can't be much zanier than the original, or can it?  Check out the trailer for the TV series below, and be sure to share your thoughts/derision/memories/favorite animal powers in the comments section below: