The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Review
by Brandon Herring (HalloweenFan2K AT aol DOT com)July 20th, 2000
Rating: * *˝ out of * * * *
Rated PG: mild language, slapstick violence.
Starring: Rene Russo, Jason Alexander, Robert De Niro, Randy Quaid, Kel Mitchell, Piper Perabo, Kenan Thompson, John Goodman, David Alen Grier, Jeaneane Garafalo, Whoopi Goldberg.
Running Time: 88 minutes
Directed by: Des McAnuff
Thirty-five years ago, "The Bullwinkle Show" was a big hit on televisions. Kids would wake up early just to watch the show. Heck when I was little I even used to watch the show alot. Yes Moose and Squirrel was the big thing, they were popular, made money had tons of fans and was in the lap of luxury. Thirty-five years is however a long time, and since then Rocky and Bullwinkle really hasn't been very famous, until the year 2000 when Universal releases a $80 million budgeted movie, starring Rocky and Bullwinkle. This isn't however the Rocky and Bullwinkle you remember, this time they are in the real world in an adventure to stop Fearless Leader from taking over the World.
The movie starts out telling us how Rocky and Bullwinkle has been living off re-runs of the show on TV. Bullwinkle has written a letter to the President about getting the tress grown back where they live in cartoon land. When Natasha, Boris and Fearless Leader are pulled through a television set by Jeanane Garofalo, Fearless Leader sets out to take over the world, by making a television station called RBTV (really bad TV) which when patrons will watch the shows and turn them into mindless walking zombies. Agent Sympathy (Piper Perabo of the upcoming "Coyote Ugly") is sent out to find Rocky and Bullwinkle and bring them into the real world, so they can stop Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader.
Agent Sympathy brings the two to the real world, but she has to tell them what exactly is going on, while they try to adapt to the fact that there is no commercial breaks, and that the people around them are nicely animated. Of course the bad Boris and Natasha continue their raid to try to kill Moose and Squirrel. Agent Sympathy as to try to stop these two, while trying to get Rocky and Bullwinkle to understand that if they don't stop Fearless Leader in time, the world will come to an end.
The movie is outlined by very funny, often hilarious moments that I enjoyed enormously. The movie works on many levels and tanks of many levels. The levels it works on is that the actors who are portraying their characters are fantastic. Rene Russo is the stand out as Natasha Fatale the sexy french woman who with her honey Boris Badenov played well by Jason Alexander try to get Moose and Squirrel but as usual fail miserably. Jason Alexander is a great choice for Boris but sadly he isn't given enough to do, and at times seems a bit dull in the role. Robert De Niro is great as Fearless Leader with his accent and high-pitched voice. Perhaps the best performance comes from newcomer Piper Perabo who is a talented and beautiful actress capable of many things in her future. There are some great cameos by stars like Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, Jeaneane Garofalo and many more.
Another plus to the film is the script which is cleverly written if at times a bit cliched. Rocky and Bullwinkle are greatly brought out and Bullwinkle is given some fantastic lines. The animation of these two are magnificent and plus in color and detail. They are brought out in a 3-D type of thing that is so great it might have surpassed Roger Rabbit's mix of Live Action and Animation, just fantastic and seeing the movie you can tell where the 80+million budget came from. There are quite a bit of downsides to the film however, it seems really cartoonish and even sometimes dumb. There are some scenes that are really ridiculous and not even that funny.
I noticed that in a few scenes the cast seemed tired and the same joke was told over and over. But even with these flaws I was disappointed with the whole movie entirely, but the animation, characters and some of the insights of the film are enjoyable, and kids will definately love it. Its a good movie overall with flaws but far from being bad, but far from being perfect.
Reviewed by Brandon Herring July 11, 2000
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