The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Review
by "Berge Garabedian" (joblo AT sympatico DOT ca)June 29th, 2000
THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY & BULLWINKLE
RATING: 5/10 --> Not a good movie
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I suppose that the seamless blend of animated cartoon characters and real live actors on the big screen was a pretty big deal back in 1988, when WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT captured the nation's attention. But nowadays, with the incredible innovations in computer generated imagery, DVD and the mind-blowing effects in films like THE MATRIX and THE PHANTOM MENACE, it takes a little more to get us excited, right? Allrighty-then...how's about producing yet another remake of an old, cheezy cartoon television series, but this time, mix in some live-action folks and see how that plays. Sound like a good idea?
Yeah, I guess <yawn>.
PLOT:
After having been cancelled from television back in the 1960s, TV cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle are left to dwindle their lives away in their animated world of Frostbite Falls, until their nefarious counterparts, Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader escape, and take a live-action leap into today's real world. It isn't long before the cartoon two-some are summoned by a rookie FBI agent in the hopes of squishing Fearless Leader's maniacal plot to become the president of the United States.
CRITIQUE:
A very cartoony film with a quick pace, may be suited for fans of the old series, but falls flat within today's comedic standards set by the Simpsons, with many unfunny goofy puns, easy jokes and childish pranks. Strangely enough, many of the jokes in this film are geared towards adults with many play-on-words and literal interpretations, but at the same time, the film is more than obviously meant for children, with a silly plot, over-the-top bad guys and oh-so simple humor ("Allow me to be frank with you" - "Oh hullo Frank, I'm Bullwinkle"). Yeesh! Yet another COPS parody also didn't twirl my nipples, and neither did half a million Bullwinkle misinterpretations, which I suppose were meant to be funny, but just left me feeling kind of, well...bored. I'll admit that I was never much of a fan of the original TV series on which this film is based (if I was flipping the channels and it was on, I generally tuned it for a bit, but that was about it), but I reckon that most kids who will go see this movie, would not have seen it either, so let's just hope that they "get it". Personally, I wasn't taken by either of the two leads, be it Rocky or Bullwinkle, and I especially didn't care for the dim-witted aspect of the Moose. Oh, I get it...he's stupid, so that's funny!
To be fair, I did hear quite a few people laughing in my audience, but even then, most of them were adults. I suppose that if you're in "the mood" and appreciate the "Bullwinkle humor", then you might enjoy this film, which to its credit, doesn't take itself seriously for a moment, and sure doesn't pretend to be about anything either. It's a cartoon movie with some live-action stars intermixed. In the end, the film will either work for you or not depending on your connection to the humor. The film's first 20 minutes are probably its most ambitious, with an excellent explanation of how the badly drawn duo from the 60s got to be the better-looking 3D animation characters in the year 2000. There is also a pretty cool sequence featuring Bullwinkle literally "surfing the Internet" near the end, but other than that, the effects did little to impress me. The film is also filled with plenty of cameos (see below), most of which feature actors whose best work is long behind them, and also stars a cute Britney Spears wannabee FBI agent, who I've never heard of before, but from whom I wouldn't mind hearing again! Robert DeNiro must've taken a little less than a week to film his scenes, because he's barely in the film, while Alexander and Russo both perform admirably as the notorious No-Goodniks from Pottsylvania, Boris and Natasha. But in the end, without much to impress me visually, without much humor to make me laugh, and without much of a story (granted, the film is a cartoon, you don't really expect much there), the film didn't do much for me.
But who knows, others may just enjoy it on their own level as an empty, frivolous, campy (funny to some), children's cartoon. And for anyone who wants to tell me to "lighten up", I'd be more than happy to accept your directive. I'll be the one watching yet another hilarious episode of TV's "The Simpsons". Now, there's some real humor!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars:
This film does manage to spoof a couple of other famous movies, including a flying scene straight out of SUPERMAN, and the infamous "you talkin' to me" scene from TAXI DRIVER, interpreted once again, by the man who helped make those words immortal in the first place, Robert DeNiro.
Several star cameos line this film including Janeane Garofalo, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters (playing three different parts), Whoopie Goldberg, Billy Crystal, David Alan Grier and John Goodman.
Look for DeNiro's own daughter in this film, Drena DeNiro, in a small part as a RBTV lackey. She is actually his daughter through adoption. She is Diahnne Abbott's real daughter from a previous marriage. DeNiro adopted her when he was married to Abbott from 1976-1988.
Director Des McAnuff was originally a stage director, and the man responsible for bringing The Who's "Tommy" to Broadway. His first foray into film directing came in 1998 when he directed COUSIN BETTE starring Jessica Lange. He also produced last year's critically acclaimed animated feature THE IRON GIANT.
Rumor has it that "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening inserted the infamous "J" in Homer J. Simpson's name as an homage to Rocky & Bullwinkle, whose full names are Rocky J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose. Their middle "J" comes from creator Jay Ward's own name.
So what has the Britney Spears-like actress (aka Piper Perabo) of this film done besides this, you may ask? Well, actually not much, although she is one of the stars in that all-girl sexy, momma-jomma film coming out in August, COYOTE UGLY, so stay tuned!
Executive producer Tiffany Ward is Jay Ward's daughter. Jay Ward is the creator of the series upon which this film is based, as well as the man behind the characters in GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE and DUDLEY DO-RIGHT. June Foray, the original voice behind Rocky, is back as the voice of the flying squirrel in this film. Australian comedian-mimic Keith Scott voices both Bullwinkle and the film's omnipresent, wry narrator. Screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan also co-wrote the DeNiro comedy ANALYZE THIS.
Review Date: June 27, 2000
Director: Des McAnuff
Writer: Kenneth Lonergan
Producers: Jane Rosenthal and Robert DeNiro
Actors: Robert DeNiro as Fearless Leader
Rene Russo as Natasha
Jason Alexander as Boris
Piper Perabo as Karen Sympathy
Genre: Children's Animation
Year of Release: 2000
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(c) 2000 Berge Garabedian
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