Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action | |
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Directed by | Joe Dante Eric Goldberg (Animation) |
Written by | Larry Doyle |
Based on | Looney Tunes by Warner Bros. |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
Edited by |
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Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 93 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $80 million[1] |
Box office | $68.5 million[1] |
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American
The film was the result of multiple attempts by Warner Bros. to develop a sequel to Space Jam (1996). It was originally developed as a direct sequel titled Spy Jam, which was intended to include Jackie Chan in the lead role. Dante, out of a personal dislike for Space Jam, substantially developed the project to more closely represent the personalities of the Looney Tunes characters, with Eric Goldberg serving as the animation director. However, Dante reportedly had no creative control on the project, and the final film became different from what he intended. The film was the last project for composer Jerry Goldsmith, who died eight months following its release; John Debney composed additional material for the score.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action premiered on November 9, 2003, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 14, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics who considered it an improvement over Space Jam and praised the animation and humor, but criticized the screenplay. It was a box-office bomb, grossing $68.5 million worldwide on an $80 million budget. Warner Bros., developing a franchise revival around the film, subsequently canceled several planned related projects, including new theatrical short films. It was the final film to be produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and the last theatrical Looney Tunes feature film until Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).
At the 31st Annie Awards, the film was nominated for four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, although it lost all to Pixar's Finding Nemo.
Plot
Weary of playing villainous roles in Bugs Bunny's cartoons, Daffy Duck demands his own animated film, but is instead fired by Vice President of Comedy Kate Houghton. Security guard and aspiring stuntman DJ Drake is ordered to escort Daffy from the studio; in the ensuing chase, a Batmobile demolishes the water tower, leading to DJ's dismissal. Daffy follows DJ home, where the latter receives a message from his father, actor Damian Drake, who DJ learns is a secret agent. Damian tells DJ to travel to Las Vegas, contact his associate Dusty Tails, and find the blue monkey diamond. Damian is then captured by the Acme Corporation, led by the eccentric Mr. Chairman. DJ and Daffy depart for Las Vegas.
Bugs' routines fail without Daffy. Kate is told to rehire Daffy, or face termination herself. Kate and Bugs arrive at DJ's house, where they find Damian's
The group eventually discovers Area 52, run by a woman known as Mother. Mother shows the group a short film about the blue monkey, which can devolve humans into monkeys. Marvin the Martian, imprisoned in the facility, leads a group of aliens to try to steal the card, but DJ's group escapes. Seeing Mona Lisa's face on the card, the group conclude they must view the painting in the Louvre.
At the Louvre, the group discover that the card contains a viewing window for the Mona Lisa and use it to discover a hidden map of Africa. Elmer Fudd appears and chases Bugs and Daffy through several paintings to obtain the card. Meanwhile, Kate is kidnapped by Beaky Buzzard and Smith, Mr. Chairman's bodyguard. DJ rescues Kate, while Elmer disintegrates into tiny dots after emerging from a pointillist painting.
The group travels to Africa and meet Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety, who escort them to the ruins of a jungle temple containing the blue monkey. At that point, Granny and company reveal themselves to be Mr. Chairman, Smith, and Taz in disguise. Mr. Chairman teleports everyone to the Acme headquarters and tricks DJ into giving him the diamond in exchange for Damian's release.
Marvin is sent to place the diamond in an Acme satellite's ray gun; with it, Mr. Chairman plans to turn most of the world's population into monkeys to make his products before reverting the population into people who will buy them. DJ and Kate rescue Damian from a death trap, while Bugs and Daffy chase Marvin into space. Marvin defeats Bugs, prompting Daffy to become Duck Dodgers in order to destroy the diamond. The intervention leads to Mr. Chairman transforming into a monkey, leading to his arrest. Bugs and Daffy return to Earth, where it is revealed that the preceding events were staged. Bugs promises Daffy that they will be equal partners, before the latter is flattened by the Looney Tunes rings. Porky Pig attempts to close the film with "That's all, folks!", but the studio closes, to Porky's indignation.
Cast
- Brendan Fraser as Damian "D. J." Drake, Jr. / himself
- Fraser also voiced Tasmanian She-Devil[2]
- Fraser also voiced
- Jenna Elfman as Kate Houghton
- Steve Martin as Mr. Chairman
- Heather Locklear as Dusty Tails
- Joan Cusack as Mother
- Timothy Dalton as Damian Drake
- Bill Goldberg as Bob Smith
- Don Stanton as Mr. Warner
- Dan Stanton as Mr. Warner's brother
- Mary Woronov as Acme VP, Bad Ideas
- Marc Lawrence as Acme VP, Stating the Obvious
- Ron Perlman as Acme VP, Never Learning
- Robert Picardo as Acme VP, Rhetorical Questions
- Bill McKinney as Acme VP, Nitpicking
- Vernon Wells as Acme VP, Child Labor
- George Murdock as Acme VP, Unfairly Promoted
- Leo Rossi as Acme VP, Climbing to the Top
- Archie Hahn as Stunt Director
- Dick Miller as Security Guard (cameo)
- Roger Corman as Hollywood Director (cameo)
- Paula Abdul as herself (cameo)
- Jeff Gordon as himself (cameo)
- Matthew Lillard as himself (cameo)
- Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell (cameo)
- Peter Graves as Civil Defense Film Host (cameo, uncredited)
- Michael Jordan as himself (cameo via archive footage from Space Jam)
Voice cast
- Jeff Bennett as Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, and Nasty Canasta[2]
- Eric Goldberg as Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, and Tweety[2]
- Bruce Lanoil as Pepé Le Pew[2]
- June Foray as Granny[2]
- Bob Bergen as Porky Pig[2]
- Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers[2]
- Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo[2]
- Danny Chambers as Cottontail Smith[2]
- Stan Freberg as Junior Bear[2]
- Will Ryan as Papa Bear[2]
- Danny Mann as Robo Dog and Spy Car[2]
- Mel Blanc as Gremlin Car (archive recordings)[2]
- Paul Julian as Road Runner (archive recordings) (uncredited)
- Bill Roberts as Michigan J. Frog (archive recordings) (uncredited)
- Jackie Morrow as Owl Jolson(archive recordings) (uncredited)
Production
Looney Tunes: Back in Action was initially developed as a sequel to
The film then re-entered development as Spy Jam and was to star Jackie Chan. Warner Bros. was also planning a film titled Race Jam, which would have starred racing driver Jeff Gordon. Both projects were ultimately cancelled. Warner Bros. eventually asked Joe Dante to direct Back in Action. In the early 1990s, Dante wanted to produce a biographical comedy with HBO, called Termite Terrace. It centered around director filmmaker and cartoonist Chuck Jones' early years at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. On the project, Dante recalled, "It was a hilarious story and it was very good except that Warner Bros. said, 'Look, it's an old story. It's got period stuff in it. We don't want that. We want to rebrand our characters and we want to do Space Jam.'"[4]
Dante agreed to direct Back in Action as a tribute to Jones. He and screenwriter
On the film, Dante stated, "It's a gagfest. Not having a particularly strong story, it just goes from gag to gag and location to location. It's not a particularly compelling narrative, but, of course, that's not where the charm of the movie is supposed to lie." On the subject of filming, Dante stated that each scene with animated characters would be shot three times; first a rehearsal with a fake stuffed stand-in, then with nothing in the frame, and lastly, with a "mirror ball" in the shot to indicate to the computers where the light sources were. Afterwards, the animators would start their work and put the characters in the frame. According to Dante, a "problem" occurred when the studio executives grew tired of the film's jokes and wanted them to be changed. As a result, the studio brought in twenty-five gag writers to try to write jokes that were short enough to fit into an animated character's mouth. Despite this, the film has one credited writer.[7]
Dante stated that he had no creative freedom on the project, and called it "the longest year and a half of my life." Dante felt that while he and Goldberg managed to preserve the original personalities of the characters, the opening, middle, and end of the film are different from what Dante had envisioned.[8]
Music
This was the final film scored by composer Jerry Goldsmith. Due to Goldsmith's failing health, the last reel of the film was actually scored by John Debney, though Goldsmith was the only credited composer in marketing materials and the Varèse Sarabande soundtrack album only contains Goldsmith's music (although the first and last cues are adaptations of compositions heard in Warner Bros. cartoons). Debney receives an "Additional Music by" credit in the closing titles of the film and "Special Thanks" in the soundtrack album credits.[9] Goldsmith died in July 2004, eight months after the film's release.
Reception
Box office
Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released on November 14, 2003, originally planned to open earlier that summer. The film grossed $68.5 million worldwide against a budget of $80 million.[10][11]
Warner Bros. was hoping to start a revitalized franchise of Looney Tunes media and products with the success of Back in Action.[citation needed] New animated shorts and a Duck Dodgers TV series were commissioned to tie-in with Back in Action. However, due to the film's financial failure, the Looney Tunes franchise remained primarily on television for nearly two decades. Warner Bros. would not produce another theatrical Looney Tunes film until Space Jam: A New Legacy, which was released in 2021.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 138 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The plot is a nonsensical, hyperactive jumble and the gags are relatively uninspired compared to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons."[12] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score a 64 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews"[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[14]
Chicago Sun-Times critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film "Two Thumbs Up"; Roeper called it a "cheerful and self-referential romp blending animation with live action in a non-stop quest for silly laughs," while Ebert called it "goofy fun."[15]
Accolades
The film was nominated for Saturn Award for Best Animated Film, Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature.
Home media
Video game
The film has a
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Looney Tunes: Back in Action". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ "Artist Bob Camp recalls the ill-fated "Space Jam 2"". Animated Views. November 30, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
- ^ "Joe Dante on Looney Tunes". Something Old, Nothing New. June 15, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
- ^ "TFH PRESENTS THE MOVIES THAT MADE ME with your hosts Josh Olson & Joe Dante". Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- ^ "SuicideGirls".
- ^ Sachs, Ben (August 8, 2012). "The orgiast: an interview with Joe Dante (part one)". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
- ^ "The Den of Geek interview: Joe Dante". Den of Geek. February 21, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
- Filmtracks.com. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide.
- ^ "Looney Tunes: Back in Action". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
- ^ "Looney Tunes: Back in Action Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
- ^ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Looney Tunes" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
- ^ "Looney Tunes: Back in Action :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. November 14, 2003. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- Amazon.com
Retrieved December 17, 2016