Looney Tunes - Back in Action (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Looney fun
Review: I have given this film 4 stars because my six-year-old son loves it, and I assume that's the age group it's aimed at. Brendon Fraser plays a security guard at Warner Brothers Studios who gets sacked, at the same time as a bossy female executive sacks Daffy Duck. Fraser and Daffy join forces to find Fraser's dad (Timothy Dalton) a film star who plays a spy who is actually a spy in real life. He has been kidnapped by a mad scientist (Steve Martin) who wants to find the Blue Daimond, which has magical powers. Fraser and Daffy have to get to the Blue Diamond before Martin does. also Bugs Bunny is trying to get Daffy back to the studios. The mixture of live action and cartoon characters will amuse children, and if you are a big Looney Tunes fan you should love it (I'm more partial to Tom and Jerry myself). On the other hand, if your main interest int he film was in the presence of Timothy Dalton, you may notice that there's not a lot of him in it really. Never mind, the kids will love it.

Rating:
Summary: A 3 1/2 Star Movie
Review: "Looney Tunes-Back in Action" most likely has the type of humor which one would find funny, but only if that 'one' is a kid, most likely 12 and down. That's just it, this movie's for kids. (Well, I count as a kid, but I guess I'm not the type the movie is aimed for.) Unfortunately, I did not like this movie very much, so this is going to be a negative review.

Alright, first the plot. DJ Drake (Brendan Fraiser) and Kate (Jenna Elfman) join forces with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to save DJ's dad and a magical blue diamond from the hands of the evil and, if I may add, absolutely annoying Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin), the leader of Acme Company. The blue diamond has the power to turn people into monkeys (yeah. monkeys) and Mr. Chairman wants it to, well, turn people into monkeys. Simple enough, isn't it?

Now, I admit some parts I laughed, like the comment about DJ Drake as the stunt double of Brendan Fraiser. I dunno why, but it was so unexpected I laughed. Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny were occasionally entertaining. I think the animated characters were what saved this movie from being more a painful experience than it was already. My favorite scene was the chase between Elmer, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny through the famous paintings by many famous artists.

There were other rare moments when a laugh escaped me, but most of the time I was staring at the TV screen, wondering whether some people actually thought this was funny (The alien attack at Area 52...). Steve Martin was a pain to watch, with his whole uber-strange character as Mr. Chairman. Poor guy. (Steve Martin, not Mr. Chairman)

I had expected something alot more funnier, alot more wittier, and alot more interesting(er), but, well, I didn't get it. It left me feeling unsatsifed and, to quote a phrase me and my friends use sometimes, like: Dot. Dot. Dot. What's just sad is that this movie could have been better, I mean, there aren't many movies where Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, and other famous and lovable Looney Tunes characters are with human actors in a movie.

The Grand Conclusion: This movie is stupid. It has the kind of stupid humor which isn't witty, but is funny enough for kids to be entertained. Get it if you want to watch something for the sake of watching something or for the sake of watching something you don't have to use your head at all while watching(Kinda confusing there), but *don't* get it if you're looking for something to really entertain you or something to leave you feeling the satisfaction of watching something good. There are other movies that are much better than this.


Rating:
Summary: good, but some extras stupid
Review: Story:
(from back of DVD case)
Yikes! The fate of the human race is in the hands of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, teaming to wreak hilarious comic mayhem in a fast-paced family adventure combined live-action (staring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin and more) with animation ( a hilarious cavalcade of Looney Tunes greats) Join the Tunesters as they try to obtain the powerful Blue Monkey gem
and stop Acme Corp.'s grab for weirdwide worldwide domination. Connect with your inner Daffy for hare-brained wit and mystery most fowl. For Acme Anvils. For pratfalls and movie in-jokes. For more fun than you can catch in just one viewing. The Looneytics are running the aslyum. Welcome to THEIR world.
Comments: A fun and goofy plot with funny spoofs, but hard-core Looney Tunes fans may be disapointed.
Score: 8/10

Audio:
Languages: English, Francais & Espanol
5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound EX
Subtitles: English, Francais & Espanol
Comments: Yeah Baby YEAH!
Score 10/10

Video:
Can't be as good as THX (Impossible!) but still very worthy.
Score: 9/10


Extras:
All-new Looney Tunes cartoon Whizzard of Ow (et la Wizard of Oz)
Behind the Tunes documentary (tour of the set)
BANG CRASH BOOM! rabbit/duck perspective of special effects
Theatrical trailer
Looney Tunes: Out of Action (Deleted Scenes)
DVD-ROM link to more Deleted scenes
Code: Go to extras and immeatdly press right then enter. You will see a clip of Yosemite Sam blowing up
Interactive/animated menus
Scene acess
24 chapter stops
Looney Tunes Golden Collection trailer
Comments: Behind the Tunes documentary riduculous, code crummy but other than that good
Score:7/10


Overall 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Rating:
Summary: The Return of the Toons.
Review: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, and almost every other classic WB animated character (including Speedy Gonzalez) make an appearance in LOONY TOONS: BACK IN ACTION. The movie combines action between the classic animated characters and live actors to tell a somewhat canned story that is as hip as it is corny.

In the movie Daffy Duck is fired by the studio heads after demanding to be paid equally as much as Bugs Bunny. Brendan Fraser plays DJ Drake, a lowly security guard/stuntman working at WB studios who dreams of becoming more involved in the business, but is fired on the same day after a major accident involving the famed Warner Brothers water tower. Drake's Dad (played by Timothy Dalton) is actually one of the studio's highest paid actors known for his espionage movies. But Daddy Drake is leading a double life because he's also one of the world's top spies. The evil Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin) steals a valuable blue diamond which he needs to turn all the people in the world into monkeys. Once DJ and Daffy find out what's going on, they set out on a world wide adventure to stop Mr. Chairman, get the blue diamond back, and rescue DJ's Dad. They're joined on their journey by Kate (Jenna Elfman), a WB VP, and Bugs Bunny who are sent to bring back Daffy because Bugs Bunny just isn't the same without his old friend and foil. Along the way the foursome meet up with all kinds of WB animated characters, actors making cameos, and some classic B-picture movie monsters from the WB's past.

LOONEY TOONS: BACK IN ACTION moves at a rate that's faster than most people can keep up with. The witty one-liners, hip references to pop culture, and allusions to WB and movie history are shot out at a pace faster than a pitching machine on hyperdrive. Many of the references kids and younger audiences won't get, but though the film is aimed at children, it's also meant for adults to enjoy. Though the movie isn't on the par of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? and isn't as classy as the classic Warner Brothers cartoon shorts, LOONEY TOONS: BACK IN ACTION makes a valiant effort to equal those standards, but doesn't quite make the mark. Still the movie does enliven the WB franchise characters and provides a foundation to build upon in the future.

The DVD version of the film includes a new Looney Toon short, some deleted scenes with an alternate ending, and a couple of behind the scene featurettes. I especially liked the "Behind the Tunes" featurette with Bugs and Daffy.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS AWESOME. A TRUE CLASSIC COMEDY
Review: LIKE SPACE JAM LOONEY TUNES COME THROUGH AGAIN. FOR FANS YOUNG AND OLD OF THESE CARTOON LEGENDS YOU WILL LOVE IT. WITH AN AWESOME CAST INCLUDING STEVE MARTIN AS ONE NUTTY VILLIAN. IF YOU LIKED THE CARTOONS YO UWILL OVE THIS MOVIES. ITS A GOOFY, FUNNY GOOD TIME FOR ALL. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT I WOULD SUGGEST YOU SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR WHAT SO EVER

Rating:
Summary: Looney Tunes Back in Action NOT for Children
Review: Parents! Parental warning: There are trasvestites, disturbing action, and Bugs Bunny tries to be funny by saying "Oh pain! Oh agony". If you don't mind your kids repeating this crap then you consider this a four star movie. Stupid on the level of many "Rugrats" episodes (which I find even MORE stupider).

To be fair, Bugs Bunny is a wonderful rabbit. I enjoy his old cartoon classic, but this was an embarrasment. It was also distubring to see some disaster sections of the film. I will not see this movie ever again. The animation was okay, but that wouldn't make it a good movie. TONS of things made this movie a terrible movie. I also think it's a waste of time when my sisters and our friend repeat "oh pain. oh agony".

If I were you, buy Shrek 2.

Rating:
Summary: Terribly boring and uninspired
Review: I just could'nt keep focused on this dud.It's a shame they ruined such a good idea by sticking the likes of Brendan Friasier,the unfunny Steve Martin and other dull human actors in the film.Perhaps if this was 100% animated,it would've done better with audiences.

Rating:
Summary: fairly dismal effort
Review: I bow to no one in my love and admiration for those classic Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1940`s and 1950`s. Like so many of my generation, I was virtually raised on these works from infancy on up. Yet, for those of us who are diehard aficionados, "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" is a decidedly depressing experience, proving, once again, that when it comes to revisiting one's childhood, a person truly can't go home again.

This is not, of course, a re-visitation in its purest form, since "Back in Action," like 1996`s "Space Jam," is actually a modernized hybrid combining live action with animation. And that, perhaps, is the single greatest problem with this film. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, the Road Runner and the rest of the gang clearly feel more at home in their own two-dimensional world in which the laws of nature have no jurisdiction. Yank them out of that context and stick them into the "real world" with a bunch of overacting humans and their unique charm begins to drain away and dissipate. Unfortunately, both the cartoon characters and the humans with whom they are interacting are stuck with a dreary, largely unfunny script that substitutes pandemonium and movement for cleverness and wit (qualities the original cartoons had in abundance). The spy tale writer Larry Doyle has come up with is stultifying in its stupidity and reminds us of just why the Warner Brother originals, which were masterpieces of minimalist storytelling, ran for ten or fifteen minutes and no longer. Expanding the story to almost ten times that length stretches the already flimsy material far past the breaking point.

There are a few moments of inspired fun, such as when Bugs and Daffy, followed by an irate Elmer Fudd, jump in and out of art masterpieces in the Louvre, wreaking havoc as they go, or when our intrepid band of heroes encounters a secret Area 51-type government project in the desert inhabited by a coterie of creatures from 1950`s "B" movie classics. In fact, the movie has quite a bit of fun with "in" movie references that adults are far more likely to get than the children who clearly make up the bulk of this movie's audience. But those moments of inspiration are few and far between, and most of the time we are stuck in a fairly dismal comedy overall. The blending of live action and animation, under the guidance of director Joe Dante, is pretty much state-of-the-art, though these particular cartoon characters have more charm when they are two, rather than three, dimensional in form.

Brendan Fraser, as a stunt man who goes in search of his kidnapped father with Bugs and Daffy along for the ride, makes an appealing hero, although the usually likable Jenna Elfman succeeds mainly in being annoying. Timothy Dalton has a nothing part as Fraser's dad, a legendary movie actor who turns out to be a spy off screen as well as on. Heather Locklear, Joan Cusack, Roger Corman, and Kevin McCarthy also make brief appearances, but the single worst job of acting is turned in by an overwrought and over-wound Steve Martin, who as the diabolical head of the Acme Corporation, delivers a ham handed performance of monumental badness.

Lovers of The WB cartoons had best stick with the originals.






Rating:
Summary: Cartoon in tune
Review: I was worried this film would fall apart; now, after finishing it. I saw a couple jokes that could have been better. A few things slightly predictable, but I thought it was excellent. Seriously, when you're putting every Looney Tune into a live film: (thank God without rubber masks!) ...there's a lot of high exceptions and low exceptions. I think this movie did just about as well as it could possibly do. Going from live comedy to Looney Tune insanity and back for both at once. I give it Two Dynamites Up.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies ever!
Review: I have given this film 4 stars because my six-year-old son loves it, and I assume that's the age group it's aimed at. Brendon Fraser plays a security guard at Warner Brothers Studios who gets sacked, at the same time as a bossy female executive sacks Daffy Duck. Fraser and Daffy join forces to find Fraser's dad (Timothy Dalton) a film star who plays a spy who is actually a spy in real life. He has been kidnapped by a mad scientist (Steve Martin) who wants to find the Blue Daimond, which has magical powers. Fraser and Daffy have to get to the Blue Diamond before Martin does. also Bugs Bunny is trying to get Daffy back to the studios. The mixture of live action and cartoon characters will amuse children, and if you are a big Looney Tunes fan you should love it (I'm more partial to Tom and Jerry myself). On the other hand, if your main interest int he film was in the presence of Timothy Dalton, you may notice that there's not a lot of him in it really. Never mind, the kids will love it.