Adam Sandler writes and stars in the Candy Land Movie; is it a good idea?

Will this man...

I don’t know if you have been keeping up with the progress on Hasbro’s Candy Land movie but a mention in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine got me thinking about it.  Here is how the writer, Hope Reeves describes it:

Candy Land, a game of minimal reading and counting skills, may be following Battleship to the big screen. Adam Sandler is currently attached. No word on whether the “Big Daddy” star will play King Kandy, but not everyone is sweet on the idea. “Mining decades-old board games for movie ideas reeks of bottom-of-the-barrel desperation,” says Vic Holtreman, editor in chief of screenrant.com.

...play this man?

Ouch, that was not kind.  So, I decided to do a little research and found that Sandler is also helping to write the movie, making him part of the third team to attempt it.  Originally the movie was to be written by Etan Cohen (“Tropic Thunder,” Madagascar 2” and “Men In Black 3).  That movie was to be

about people sucked into the board game.  He was replaced by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger who co-wrote Kung Fu Panda.  That movie was seen as a kind of Lord of the Rings made out of fudge.  That is no longer operative as the movie under Sandler is to be a broad comedy.

The fact that the brain behind “Little Nicky” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” is a motivating force behind Candy Land makes you wonder whether Hasbro is onto something.   After all, although most of his movies are critically panned, Sandler does fill theatre seats.

So, does that mean that Hasbro is going for box office rather than critical acclaim?  What do you think Hasbro's reason is for going with Adam Sandler?