Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Joe Dante

Writer (WGA):

Larry Doyle (written by)

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Real life has never been so animated

Plot:

The Looney Tunes search for a man's missing father and the mythical Blue Monkey diamond.

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Duck | Monkey | Spy | Daffy Duck

Awards:

8 nominations

Cast

Brendan Fraser	...	DJ Drake / Himself / Voice of Tasmanian Devil and She-Devil
Jenna Elfman	...	Kate
Steve Martin	...	Mr. Chairman
Timothy Dalton	...	Damien Drake
Heather Locklear	...	Dusty Tails
Joan Cusack	...	Mother
Bill Goldberg	...	Mr. Smith
Don Stanton	...	Mr. Warner
Dan Stanton	...	Mr. Warner's Brother
Dick Miller	...	Security Guard
Roger Corman	...	Hollywood Director
Kevin McCarthy	...	Dr. Bennell
Jeff Gordon	...	Himself
Matthew Lillard	...	Himself
Mary Woronov	...	Acme VP, Bad Ideas

Also Known As:

Looney Tunes Back in Action: The Movie (USA) (DVD box title)
Looney Tunes: The Movie (USA) (working title)
Spy Jam (USA) (working title)
The Untitled Looney Tunes Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild language and innuendo.

Runtime:

90 min | Italy:91 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:G (all jurisdictions) | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Brazil:Livre | Chile:TE | Finland:K-7 | Germany:6 (bw) | Norway:7 | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:6 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #40190)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Kevin McCarthy spoofs his own role from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When DJ and Kate are swinging on the cable attached to the Eiffel Tower, DJ swipes flowers and chocolates from separate tourists on the ground. After he takes the items, both tourists are holding money upright in their hands. The bills are clearly US currency, not Euros as would be used in Paris.

Quotes:

Daffy Duck: What a fantastic view.
Bugs Bunny: Unless you're in the audience in which case you've been staring at an elephant's behind for 30 seconds.

Movie Connections:

References Licence to Kill (1989)

Soundtrack:

Hey Driver

Rather good, actually - and perfectly in tune with the original cartoons' spirit

More than making up for the lame excuse for a film that was the

widely panned "Space Jam", this live-action/animation combination featuring Warner's cartoon characters perfectly

recaptures the classic Looney Tunes' wonderfully nonsensical,

freewheeling spirit. There isn't much in a way of an acceptable or

even decent plot, actually, but don't let that deter you since that's

precisely the reason why any attempt to fit the Looney Tunes gang

into a full-length film would flounder. Instead, director Joe Dante

and writer Larry Doyle erect a perilously teetering scaffold upon

which an insanely huge number of amazingly good sight gags and

verbal puns is set, while at the same time paying some sort of

warped tribute to classic sci-fi B-films of the fifties. The `plot' has

Daffy Duck fired from Warners by executive Jenna Elfman as

outdated, then proceeding to get security guard Brendan Fraser

fired along with him, and both embarking on a nutty drive to Las

Vegas to find the whereabouts of Fraser's dad, film star/spy

Timothy Dalton, eventually uncovering a dastardly conspiracy from

ACME chairman Steve Martin to use the Blue Monkey diamond to

enslave mankind. Of course it doesn't make sense, and that's fine

-- it's not meant to. You may point out that the live action/animation

combination doesn't always work, that the live actors never reach

the manic intensity of the cartoon characters (except for Joan

Cusack's wonderfully, ahem, daffy cameo), but really, that's beside

the point when the gratuitously violent and deliriously politically

incorrect free-for-all of the original cartoons is so perfectly

duplicated here.