| TV
Times
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| Looney
Tunes returns to Big Screen Looney Tunes:
Back In Action marks the first time Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the
entire Looney Tunes menagerie star in a feature film set entirely
in a live action world and interact with “live” 3-D
costars throughout the picture The story line goes as, after Kate Houghton (Elfman) orders DJ to kick the plucky duck off the lot, the mismatched pair are off searching for DJ’s kidnapped super-suave movie-star dad Damian Drake (Timothy Dalton miscast as someone who actually got famous for playing a 007-like spy). Kate and Bugs wind up in pursuit because the Warners folks want Daffy back after all. Meanwhile, the Acme Corporation’s evil Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin in a moppy wig) seeks the magical Blue Monkey Diamond to carry out a rather clever plan of transforming people into monkeys to make crummy Acme products, then turning the monkeys back into people to buy the lousy things. The team that put together “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” added gags specifically designed to attract rabid Internet fans as well as the expected family audiences to the partially-animated movie that pairs Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck With Daffy in tow, DJ hits the road in a desperate attempt to outrace the evil Acme stooges to the diamond and save the world from their evil clutches. Brendan Fraser is hugely talented star with a diverse career including starring roles in the blockbusters George of the Jungle and The Mummy series, as well as the critically acclaimed films Gods and Monsters and The Quiet American, illustrates that not only is Fraser a talented and versatile performer, he’s also no stranger to the challenge of working in films imbued with a plethora of special effects and CGI characters. This combination made him a natural fit to play the heroic straight man to the madcap Looney Tunes crew. Photographing the technically challenging, state-of-the-art film is one of Hollywood’s most respected cinematographers, Dean Cundey, who has lent his talents to several effects-laden films, including such cinematic breakthroughs as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Jurassic Park. The film also sports a variety of automobiles piloted by our animated and live-action heroes on their quest. The state of the art “spy car” that Kate and Bugs drive to Las Vegas is the high-performance Tuscan S from British automaker TVR. DJ and Daffy’s ride is the somewhat less glamorous 1974 Gremlin, a jalopy not only befitting of DJ’s current financial worth, but also an homage to director Joe Dante’s classic Gremlins films. The production purchased six Gremlins for the film, each one in a different stage of total demolition. According to Watts the special effects expert, approximately 1,200 visual effects shots were rendered for Looney Tunes: Back In Action, including the removal of wires, set extensions and matte paintings and all the other elements necessary to transform Warner Bros.’ Stage 16 into Africa, Los Angeles’ Exposition Park into Paris, and a parking lot into the Eiffel Tower. This new blend of veteran cartoon characters have been taken in with mixed reactions by movie critics. But as they say rock never dies in the entertainment world cartoons have also enjoyed a similar immortality for their appeal. If you did love “who framed Roger Rabbit”, “Gremlins” and “The Small Soldiers” this definitely is your movie. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
It
has been a while since “who framed Roger Rabbit”, Looney
Tunes characters have hit the silver screen. Joe Dante must have
thought the same thing when he under took an ambitious project.
Dante may be the ideal person to handle this project because of
his awesome success behind “Gremlins” and the revolutionary
hit “Small Soldiers” 
