Cool World (1992)

Cool World: Directed by Ralph Bakshi. With Janni Brenn, Brad Pitt, William Frankfather, Greg Collins. When Jack Deebs was behind bars he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a vixen named Holli Would. The flesh proves weaker than ink, however, as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas.

“Hereu0026#39;s my review of Ralph Bakshiu0026#39;s 1992 Paramount Picture u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot;, starring Brad Pitt, Gabriel Byrne, u0026amp; Kim Basinger.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wonu0026#39;t give a plot synthesis, as that would spoil the fun. Instead, Iu0026#39;ll cut straight to the chase and give you my brutally honest opinion on this film. Iu0026#39;ll start with my view on the widely-held opinion that u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot; is a rip-off of u0026quot;Who Framed Roger Rabbitu0026quot;. Even though u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot; is undeniably Roger Rabbit-esquire, and Brad Pitt said in an interview that u0026quot;u0026#39;Cool Worldu0026#39; is like u0026#39;Roger Rabbitu0026#39; on acidu0026quot;, sexy cartoon women and combining live-action and animation have been staples of Bakshiu0026#39;s films before Gary K. Wolf even created Roger Rabbit. u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot; reminds me more of u0026quot;Gremlins 2: The New Batchu0026quot;, because A: The rule that noids (humans) and doodles (cartoon characters) can not have sex with each other is similar to the 3 rules for owning a Mogwai because they are ancient sacred rules that must not be broken, lest cartoon-type chaos wreck havoc, u0026amp; B: Holliu0026#39;s goons (Slash, Bash, Mash and Bob) reminded me of Gizmou0026#39;s 2nd batch of offspring (Mohawk, Daffy, George and Lenny).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnyway, there are a lot of things wrong with this movie. First of all, there are lots of plot holes and plot points that are never fully explained. This might be fun for those with imagination, but most would find it lazy and rushed. Kim Basinger is a pretty lousy actress in this movie. True, her character Holli Would was meant to be hated, but the doodle and noid versions of Holli look and behave so differently itu0026#39;s almost hard to believe that theyu0026#39;re the same character. Gabriel Byrne plays a pretty dull character in this film, and only part I was interested in Jack was when he became a super-powered doodle, and that wasnu0026#39;t even Gabe voicing Super Jack, it was Maurice LaMarche (who is based known as the voice of Brain from u0026#39;Pinky and the Brainu0026#39;). Also, the combination of live-action and animation is not nearly as smooth (in both the way the cartoons are placed onto the live-action and in the live-action actorsu0026#39; interactions and responses to the cartoon characters that are added later) as it was in u0026quot;Who Framed Roger Rabbitu0026quot; and similar films like u0026quot;Space Jamu0026quot; and u0026quot;Looney Tunes: Back in Actionu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkleu0026quot;. To top it all off, the whole film just feels dated, even for 1992, I guess partly due to it using ink-and-paint-on-cells instead of digital ink-and-paint, which even Bakshiu0026#39;s protégés at the Ren and Stimpy show were able to afford on an animated TV series budget and use in several episodes of its 2nd season, which premiered only a few months after u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot;u0026#39;s release.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut the disaster this film ended up being is actually not entirely Ralph Bakshiu0026#39;s fault. Ralphu0026#39;s original script for this had Holli (originally called Debbie Dallas) and Jack having a son who was a strange combination of live-action and animated body parts and who hated himself for what he was u0026amp; what he wasnu0026#39;t and attempted to murder his father. But producer Frank Mancuso Junior (whose father, Frank Mancuso Senior, was then the head of Paramount Pictures) had the script completely rewritten which heavily muted the filmu0026#39;s messages of the importance of fatherhood and the dangers of casual sex, and hired Kim Basinger (who was a pain in the butt during shooting and ruined the movie even more) and Gabriel Byrne (whom Bakshi felt was too much a foreigner to play an American underground cartoonist) when Bakshi wanted Drew Barrymore and Brad Pitt to play the leads.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut even with Mancusou0026#39;s bastardizing Bakshiu0026#39;s original vision for the film, there are still some things in u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot; to enjoy. For one, the animation is mostly quite good and reminded me at times of Tiny Toons and Ren u0026amp; Stimpy. Also, Brad Pitt does a rather decent job acting in this picture (despite his interactions with cartoon characters leaving a good amount to be desired, as heu0026#39;s no Bob Hoskins) as his character Frank Harris is rather likable. Also, Harrisu0026#39;s arachnid doodle partner Nails is a delightful nutty character voiced by Charlie Adler, my personal favorite voice-over actor who has done many of my most favorite cartoon characters like Buster Bunny, Cow and Chicken, Ickis, Ed and Bev Bighead and many more. The secondary and minor doodles like Lonette (whom I consider a much more desirable woman than Holli due to her being a brunette and having a caring personality), the aforementioned Goons, Sparks and Doc Whiskers are all interesting (plus theyu0026#39;re voiced by greats like Candi Milo and the aforementioned Maurice LaMarche), as are the noids Jennifer and Isabelle Malley. Too bad theyu0026#39;re kind of stuck in the background. And there are quite a few memorable laugh-out moments that make this film worth seeing at least once IMHO.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo in the end, although this film would be perfect for Mystery Science Theater 3000, I still find u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot; interesting and enjoyable. Itu0026#39;s certainly not as great as u0026quot;Who Framed Roger Rabbitu0026quot;, Iu0026#39;m not quite sure if I find it better than u0026quot;Space Jamu0026quot; and u0026quot;Looney Tunes: Back in Actionu0026quot; and I definitely find it better than the well-intended but ultimately lame u0026quot;Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkleu0026quot; movie (despite AoRu0026amp;B having better production values than CW). All in all, u0026quot;Cool Worldu0026quot;u0026#39;s not a very good, but it is very interesting and I recommend that everyone should watch it at least once (but itu0026#39;s not for the immature and/or overly sensitive).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLook out for: Future Ren u0026amp; Stimpy producer Steve Worth in a cameo as a comic book store patron (heu0026#39;s the fat guy), and also for Maggie u0026quot;Maude Flandersu0026quot; Roswell.”