Crazy Childhood: Cool World

Cool World review
On
May 04, 2009
Well, let's face it. Crap nowadays isn't getting any better, and we wacks from the past can only turn back to the past to entertain us. But, when we look back at our childhood, we think to ourselves....was it worth it? Well, that's what were gonna find out with the article I like to call....well, you know.


Cool World (1992)

Starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, Brad Pitt

Directed by Ralph Bakshi




For those of you who don't know he is, Ralph Bakshi is an American director who was popular back in the 70's. He i best known for creating animated films targeted toward adults. Films such as "Fritz the Cat" (1972) , "Heavy Traffic" (1973) , or "Coonskin" (1975) have often been considered to be some of the best animated films of all time. But, I'll let you decide that.

In the 80's, he made some mildly entertaining yarns such as "Fire and Ice" (1983) , "American Pop" (1981) and "Hey, Good Lookin" (1982), my favorite Bakshi film. These films were made during the time when Hollywood turned up it's nose against animation, so Ralph figured "no sense doing anything else" and took up painting.

Then, after the release of the wonderful film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Hollywood started to appreciate animated work again (Thank the Lord). So, Ralph Bakshi decided to come out of retirement and created an all new action-packed animated roller-coaster ride for his eagerly waiting fans.


What we got was something else.


What we got was a confusing and incompetent yawner that put a bad taste in everyone's mouth.


I, of course, had different feelings.

Cool World IS bad in the story department. It's confusing, yes, but at least it had a wonderful premise.




The story is about a cartoonist named Jack Deebs (Byrne) who just got out of jail after murdering a guy who had an affair with Jack's wife. Jack is the creator of a popular comic book he made in prison called "Cool World". But as he tries to settle down in the city of Las Vegas, he's sucked into his screwed-up creation and finds out that Cool World existed since the 40's.

Getting this so far?


Isn't it a coincidence that Jack created a three-dimensional world that's been real for nearly 40 years at the time? I don't know how he got the idea, but that's just me.



Anyways, Deebs was sucked into Cool World by sexy doodle Holli Would (Basinger), who wishes to "do it" with Deens, a "noid" if you will. If she, a "doodle", has sex with a noid, she becomes real. The reason SHE wants to be real is that she wants to be part of the "in" crowd, I guess. I guess being real is like taking drugs: You're not cool unless you try it.
Anyways, Holli wants to make doodley-dood with Deebs, but some other guy, Frank Harris (Pitt), says that sexual intercourse between a noid and a doodle is illegal and screws up the way the universe runs, I don't know.

So Deebs and Holli do it, and it's up to Harris to save both universes before they're both destroyed.

Makes sense to me!



So yeah. That's the plot. I won't spoil the whole movie, because I'm sure there's a few who want to find out how this turns out.


The first problem is this. Ralph Bakshi has been absent from the animated scene for quite a while back when the film came out. His career was always on the rocks after "Fire and Ice". Whe animation was recognized, animation was only made for the kids. I don't that was a time when Bakshi fans wanted Bakshi back.


I think for those who have seen this, we all know the BIGGEST problem of this movie: Yeah, I know, the plot. But in my opinion, the big problem is that it's not funny.

Yeah, shock, right? What's sad is that the cartoon characters in the movie actually TRY throughout the whole movie. They try to kill one another with guns, axes, cannons, cows (!), knives, airplanes, safes, the list goes on and on. And you really don't get a laugh out of it.


Speaking of characters, all the citizens of Cool World are pretty flat. Some of them are well animated and have well-defined personalities (A spider named Nails and a gambling rabbit), the rest are obnoxious and annoying, which makes this movie really hard to endure





One pointer I must say about this movie that is good is the world itself, painted by Barry Jackson. I think it's safe to say that this is what saved the film from being a total bomb. The colors are dark, which gives the world it's menacing touch, the buildings are always twisted, this place is pure eye candy.



The animation is quite good, too. Perhaps a bit TOO good. The characters usually zip around too much, and you really can't see what the heck they're doing. While "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" innovated live-action and animation by having the animated characters collide with the live-action world and it's inhabitants (Ex. Roger Rabbit spitting out real water after being stuck in a real sink for too long), "Cool World" never really gives us anything special.





"Cool World isn't a GREAT film, but it does have it's monents. I guess when you look at it, the movie is SO bad, you have to admire the cheesiness, just like most bad movies I see.

The animation is good, the backgrounds are superb, but the story is confusing at times, the characters are strange, and the movie grows tired near the end.


Overall score: 3/5

If you have any suggestions for a movie/TV Show for me to look at, please reply. I would love to continue these "Crazy Childhood" articles. But no harsh coments.

See ya!
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