Looney Tunes: Back in Action may or may not be what you'd expect from a modern day film focusing on some of the most iconic animated characters in the history of animation. The film is a hybrid of animation and live action, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Here, it provides us with moments of interest, but also, moments that are void of humor and purpose.
Still, the look is relatively welcomed, although I can't say I'm wholly fond of these characters being brought into the digital age. It would've been more fitting to see this gang in a live action film in their traditional hand drawn style of animation. But time is fleeting and the patience for craftsmanship like that is thin. I might as well have wished for a Looney Tunes movie done in claymation.
The story is simply a cacophony on film. We begin by seeing Daffy Duck, who is sick of always playing secondhand man to Bugs Bunny (both voiced by Joe Alaskey). After demanding his own film to Warner Bros. studios, he is hastily fired by VP of Comedy Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman). Security guard of Warner Bros. lot, DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser), is also fired after causing trouble trying to escort Daffy off the property.
Something of a spy plot brews, when DJ discovers his famous father was a secret agent. This inspires both him and Daffy to drive down to Las Vegas, where more of their camaraderie will surely take place, as they get in trouble with a corporation called "Acme," ran by a barely recognizable Steve Martin, and begin to stumble upon a slew of inventions created for inevitable mishaps. There's also a nice trip to Area 52, and that's not a typo.
Just like the infamous Warner Bros. cartoons, Looney Tunes: Back in Action follows the anarchic blueprint of the shorts, making them as zany and as logic-defying as possible. Is it faithful to the original shorts? Yes. It is always fun to watch? Not quite. To prepare myself for this event, I watched a couple of the classic shorts, including Rabbit Seasoning and What's Opera, Doc?, both directed by the late and great Chuck Jones. There's something captivating and compelling about the shorts that the film sort of lacks. I believe it's the transportation into the real world that jumbles the film up. It's made a tad more mainstream than it should be, and sort of obscures the obvious non-reality the shorts occupied.
What too makes the shorts so sweet and charming is the waves of nostalgia that bleed off of them and the fact that they're so clearly cartoons. Trying to incorporate them in the real world doesn't work as well. In the Looney Tunes original feature film, Space Jam, it worked a bit better, maybe because the action on the court was very reminiscent of the one-setting shorts the characters starred in. Here, they are given such a wide range and such little discipline that, after a while, the event is exhausting and monotonous.
Brendan Fraser works well in his lead, as he clearly has respect for the franchise and the legacy of the "Tunes" (and loves to take punches at himself). Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin work well in the supporting cast, and the voices of all the characters, as well as their appearances, do not fail to provide everyone's face with a smile.
I chuckled a few times and sort of smiled when the film became stylistic (particularly during the scene where Elmer Fudd, Daffy, and Bugs are jumping in and out of famous portraits in Paris). But those smiles and chuckles quickly turned to moot feelings when the film became too concerned with snappy witticisms and indescribably chaotic sensibilities. Little, little kids might enjoy it, but it's hard to say where lifelong fans will stand. Two and a half stars seems like a fair compromise from someone who enjoyed the characters enough to give their ninety-one minute anarchic piece a try.
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, and Joan Cusack. Voiced by: Joe Alaskey. Directed by: Joe Dante.
Still, the look is relatively welcomed, although I can't say I'm wholly fond of these characters being brought into the digital age. It would've been more fitting to see this gang in a live action film in their traditional hand drawn style of animation. But time is fleeting and the patience for craftsmanship like that is thin. I might as well have wished for a Looney Tunes movie done in claymation.
The story is simply a cacophony on film. We begin by seeing Daffy Duck, who is sick of always playing secondhand man to Bugs Bunny (both voiced by Joe Alaskey). After demanding his own film to Warner Bros. studios, he is hastily fired by VP of Comedy Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman). Security guard of Warner Bros. lot, DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser), is also fired after causing trouble trying to escort Daffy off the property.
Something of a spy plot brews, when DJ discovers his famous father was a secret agent. This inspires both him and Daffy to drive down to Las Vegas, where more of their camaraderie will surely take place, as they get in trouble with a corporation called "Acme," ran by a barely recognizable Steve Martin, and begin to stumble upon a slew of inventions created for inevitable mishaps. There's also a nice trip to Area 52, and that's not a typo.
Just like the infamous Warner Bros. cartoons, Looney Tunes: Back in Action follows the anarchic blueprint of the shorts, making them as zany and as logic-defying as possible. Is it faithful to the original shorts? Yes. It is always fun to watch? Not quite. To prepare myself for this event, I watched a couple of the classic shorts, including Rabbit Seasoning and What's Opera, Doc?, both directed by the late and great Chuck Jones. There's something captivating and compelling about the shorts that the film sort of lacks. I believe it's the transportation into the real world that jumbles the film up. It's made a tad more mainstream than it should be, and sort of obscures the obvious non-reality the shorts occupied.
What too makes the shorts so sweet and charming is the waves of nostalgia that bleed off of them and the fact that they're so clearly cartoons. Trying to incorporate them in the real world doesn't work as well. In the Looney Tunes original feature film, Space Jam, it worked a bit better, maybe because the action on the court was very reminiscent of the one-setting shorts the characters starred in. Here, they are given such a wide range and such little discipline that, after a while, the event is exhausting and monotonous.
Brendan Fraser works well in his lead, as he clearly has respect for the franchise and the legacy of the "Tunes" (and loves to take punches at himself). Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin work well in the supporting cast, and the voices of all the characters, as well as their appearances, do not fail to provide everyone's face with a smile.
I chuckled a few times and sort of smiled when the film became stylistic (particularly during the scene where Elmer Fudd, Daffy, and Bugs are jumping in and out of famous portraits in Paris). But those smiles and chuckles quickly turned to moot feelings when the film became too concerned with snappy witticisms and indescribably chaotic sensibilities. Little, little kids might enjoy it, but it's hard to say where lifelong fans will stand. Two and a half stars seems like a fair compromise from someone who enjoyed the characters enough to give their ninety-one minute anarchic piece a try.
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, and Joan Cusack. Voiced by: Joe Alaskey. Directed by: Joe Dante.