Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Croosin' with the "Toons", November 15, 2003
"Looney Tunes: Back In Action" is the perfect marriage of live action and animation. To complete this picturesque scenario, it takes a "humanized" all-star cast (Jenna Elfman, Brendan Fraser, Timothy Dalton, including others), along with some zany Looney Tunes charcters (yes, most of them are here, folks, from Bugs Bunny [that "wascallwy wabbit"] to Yosemite Sam), with all of the above combined to make one colossal motion picture for everyone aged seven to seventy. Everyone's out to recover an artifact that could wind up causing universal damage (a pricey gem known as "The Blue Monkey"). Its dastardly, evil "owner" (Steve Martin) wants to make certain the world is freed from all human existence, and prefers to "monkey around" with evolution, so to speak. It's a race against time, as our female assistant (Elfman), son of a movie star (Fraser), Bugs, Daffy Duck (and an all-star cast of "Tunes" attempt to free a senior movie star (Dalton) from the clutches of one mad scientist (Martin), who is the head of ACME Corporation. When I say "LT:BIA" is a "universal" motion picture, I am not just speaking in tongues, as the gang literally spans the globe to search for clues. This journey stretches from Las Vegas to Paris, France, to the wilds of Africa (FACTUAL NOTE: The Nevada Desert does not contain any species of various cacti - just shrubs of tumbleweed and tons of sand. The saguaro cactus plants were there to provide a backdrop for Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner to make their spectacular entrances). All of the elements that were featured in the classic Warner Bros. cartoons are here: classic character lines (ex: "What's Up Doc", "What In Tarnation", etc.), various sight gags (ex: automated device running out of fuel inches before touching ground, the positioning of Daffy Duck's beak, etc.), including others not mentioned here. Bill Goldberg (another wrestler turned actor) gives a masterful performance as one of the bad guys as well. Even the brief cameo of Michael Jordan is worthy of a look-see. Also, besides the too-brief appearance of Speedy "The Fastest Mouse In All Mexico" Gonzales, the only thing really missing, is Speedy's slow-footed cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez. If only this journey included a visit to Mexico (including Speedy's and Slowpoke's mouse buddies), then "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" would have netted a five-star rating for sure. As it is, it earns all four stars for its directorial and animation qualities (not to mention a fine human and not-so-human main and supporting cast), which makes it a must-see motion picture. As Porky Pig would say: "TH-TH-THE-THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!!".
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Looney Tunes: REALLY GET BACK IN ACTION!, November 16, 2003
When I walked into the theatrer opening night to see this movie, I was filled with good thoughts for the film. And it turns out it was more than what I expected. LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION had everything a movie lover would like: action, adventure, and, well..comedy!
The film had many funny scenes that anybody, age 5 or 45, would like, including a Wal-mart in the middle of a desert, and a car chase through Las Vegas in a spy car and Jeff Gordon's NASCAR car. Plus the cast really did an excellent job. Steve Martin as the ACME chairman really shot out in the movie, whereas Jenna Elfman's and Brendan Fraser's rivalry/love really was humorous. And the Looney Tunes characters were great, especially Bugs Bunny acting out the "Psycho" shower scene re-make, in which Jenna Elfman opens the curtain and Bugs screaming with chocolate syrup-like blood going down the drain.
Warner Brothers did an excellent job with this movie overall. It is the perfect movie to see with your family during the holidays. I totally recommend anyone, children or adults, to see LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"007" is "LOO" upside down?!, July 19, 2005
When animated characters and humans meet, the result can be sublime ("Roger Rabbit") or ridiculous ("Rocky and Bullwinkle"). "Looney Tunes: Back In Action" isn't either, but it isn't bad by any means. Having watched it a few times, I can attest that this is a real homage to the Warner 'toon classics when it works. Basically, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are dropped into a MAD magazine level James Bond parody, involving a kidnapped spy movie star, a Las Vegas show girl, and a mysterious African diamond that can turn people into monkeys. So far, it doesn't sound too promising, but director Joe Dante and writer Larry Doyle really try to make it into a series of classic and updated Looney Tune gags and dialogue. When it works-
as in the wild Vegas casino and Strip chases with Yosemite Sam on both the floor and in a NASCAR racer; the classic Louvre chase with Bugs, Daffy and Elmer Fudd blending in with DaVinci, Monet and Munch; and Wile E. Coyote setting up in the desert for both Bugs and Road Runner- it's terrific. Voice artist Joe Alaskey plays Bugs' Brooklyn accent a little too heavy, but his updated Daffy yakking- about cell phones, product placement, and the like- has a good, snide quality. As for the human cast, Brendan Fraser, here a hapless stunt man whose dad just happens to be a 007-esque spy star both in character and for real (played broadly, if briefly, by ex-Bond Timothy Dalton), is a little bland, and the normally witty Jenna Elfman is mostly eye candy as the studio exec. But those who play cartoon-style characters- Steve Martin as the conniving, manic "Mr. Chairman" of ACME Corp., who gets to give orders for everyone from Wile E.
("Desert Operative") to Marvin Martian ("Space Operative"), is so unhinged he's a scream- do better in this sort of thing. Joan Cusack is also great as "Mother", the white-coated director of "Area 52" (not "Area 51, that paranoid invention created to throw you off"), that mirage-like lab outside Vegas populated by sci-fi monsters.
My favorite gag here is Bugs singing along with Elvis' record of "Viva Las Vegas" while riding in Jenna's car across the desert. Now, that's an inspired update on a classic Looney Tunes setup. The late Jerry Goldsmith, better-known for his melodramatic sci-fi music, showed he could yuk it up as well, particularly with his updated arrangement of "Powerhouse", that little pile-driver swing tune you used to hear when assembly lines showed up in the original 'toons.
If it sounds like I'm a Warner scholar, you're probably right, but you don't have to know the originals by heart to enjoy "Looney Tunes"- if anything, those who don't know the classic toons will be inspired to check them out. That, I think, is what Dante and Doyle had in mind. Of the extras, the "Behind The Tunes" and "sound-effects" featurettes are OK but the newly-made cartoon "Whizzard of OW" is classic Road Runner right down to the red-clay mesas and ACME...magic tricks? Somebody definitely found their inner Chuck Jones here.
Oh, yeah- part of the fun here is to spot the supporting Looney Tunes characters as they're dropped into the movie. Foghorn Leghorn as a Vegas poker dealer works, as do the Three Bears as tourists in Paris. But Tweety and Sylvester on an elephant? Never mind. "Looney Tunes" may be half live-action and half-animation, but it ain't half bad.
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