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Looney
Tunes: Back In Action
The merry-go-round
broke down.
That's
the best explanation for how you can throw some of the funniest
characters in cartoons together with at least one of the funniest
men alive and come up with something as mediocre as Looney
Tunes: Back In Action. Oh, some may chide me for having
hoped it would be something more, and that's okay. I have
learned my lesson.
It seemed
genial enough. Set in a literally loony version of American
pop culture, the movie borrows the conceit of Who
Framed Roger Rabbit. Bugs, Daffy and the rest are
all actual movie stars, subject to contract negotiations and
the whims of a fickle public. It's an idea a little post-modern
for the general family audience, and Larry Doyle's script
does occasionally get too heavy with Hollywood inside jokes.
But the real crime, even from the outset, is that the Warner
characters are going through the same jokes they did in classic
cartoons. In other words, they really have nothing new to
offer.
At least
the plot shows some spark. Would-be stuntman D.J. Drake (Brendan
Fraser) lives under the shadow of his father, Damien (Timothy
Dalton), star of a series of high-profile spy movies. (It's
a fictional world, indeed, where Dalton got to stay on as
Bond - maybe if he'd had this kind of humor about himself
then.) In the twisted logic of Daffy Duck, however,
Damien Drake is actually a spy playing an actor playing a
spy. Thank heavens he's right, or there would be no movie.
The evil
ACME Corporation has captured father Drake in an effort to
find the mythical Blue Monkey Diamond. Imbued with the power
to transform humans into simians, the diamond plays a key
role in the latest plot of Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin, not
Marvin Acme). Let's leave that unexplained, for it does make
a good, if brief, joke.
In some
places, the movie has moments of inspiration that could only
be achieved by modern animators. Bugs and Daffy flee from
a vengeful Elmer Fudd through various paintings in the Louvre
- a giddy sequence as they all take on the styles of each
artwork. A visit to Area 52 (51 being a lie foisted upon the
American public to distract them from the real base
where the government keeps aliens) has real energy to it,
mostly provided by a loopy Joan Cusack as the head of the
base. Here the gags have a throwaway feel, and as a result,
they work. Even the overly self-referential nature of the
scene is forgivable (what kid is going to recognize Ro-man,
the Metalunan Mutant, and Daleks?) because it just doesn't
care if you get it or not.
Not only
is the larger film heavy-handed, it's also rather mean-spirited.
While it's understandable that D.J. goes quickly from revering
Daffy to being annoyed by him, their interaction degrades
into violent antagonism - from D.J. When cartoon characters
hurt each other, it can be funny, but somehow throwing a human
into the mix takes us away from the pure slapstick of it,
especially when Fraser plays everything so earnestly.
So, too,
does Jenna Elfman. The awkwardly spritely actress plays studio
executive Kate Houghton, a woman that in a more, ahem, mature
picture would be called a bitch. Neither she nor Fraser are
given much funny to do, nor are they written with as much
depth as the Looney Tunes themselves. In an unforgiving way,
they have to represent the real world.
Luckily
for the other actors, they don't. Martin's schtick might not
appeal much to adults, but as a cartoony (not cartoon) villain,
he simpers and hams his way into a pretty amusing performance,
with quite a few lines and bits that stick. As usual, Cusack
steals every scene she's in. Even Heather Locklear, in a near
inexplicable cameo, gets to just have fun. But not Fraser
and Elfman.
The two
stars are not bad, just underwritten. Doyle couldn't figure
out a better way to build their characters than to have them
both introduce and summarize themselves in one breath.
As for
Dante, he has long had an affinity for the Looney Tunes characters,
trying to capture their spirit in several of his films. He
finally gets a chance to play in their sandbox, and then spends
all his time indulging his other obsessions. Look closely
(maybe too closely) and you'll see a bevy of actors from the
Roger Corman studios, including Corman himself as the director
of the latest Batman picture. (Hey, a Corman take on Batman
would have to be better than Joel Schumacher.) Focus
on the task at hand, Joe.
It's
not terrible. What could have been exciting, if not exactly
original, just ends up going in circles before bizarrely grinding
to a halt. Don't blame Bugs and Daffy, though. Cartoon Network's
Duck Dodgers
proves that we can take them in longer doses, but just like
real actors, they have to have something to do.
Rating:
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