One of the cartoon stars of the 80's, Strawberry Shortcake, is getting a makeover. Apparently her owners, American Greetings Properties, is giving her character a new look that is more suitable for little girls of the 21st century.

The article goes over other cartoon properties which are attempting redesign to fit more in a modern context, such as Angelina Ballerina and the Looney Tunes characters. Even Disney is considering a redesign for Mickey Mouse.

The redesign may work for cartoons such as Strawberry Shortcake, which are attributable to a particular era, but I don't think world-famous properties such as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny should be messed with. The only redesign they did for Mickey that worked was giving him whites for his eyes rather than strictly pupils.

More often than not, updates on the concepts of an era fail (I'm thinking of Michael Bay's The Transformers and the remake of The Honeymooners). What do you think? Will the new Strawberry Shortcake work?

Here's some animation news from the last few days:

First, both Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake are coming back to television as part of a new Saturday morning animation block on CBS called KEWLopolis. Care Bears: Adventures in Care-A-Lot and Strawberry Shortcake join brand new series Sushi Pack and Dino Squad. Returning shows include Cake, Horseland, Sabrina and Trollz.

Tom Ruegger and Nicholas Hollander (Tiny Toons, Animaniacs) are behind Sushi Pack, about a gang of crime-fighting sushi. The characters are vaguely fish-like, which is odd since "sushi" refers to rice, and not fish. I guess animated rice isn't that interesting.