Pepé Le Pew was one of a handful of Looney Tunes characters to have a stand-alone feature-length film planned before getting scrapped. In this case, the skunk was going to have a live-action/animated movie written by Max Landis titled Pepe le Pew in City of Light, with Mike Myers set to voice the titular character.
Set in Paris, France as per usual for le Pew, it was described as a romantic heist movie and involved him and an assortment of other characters getting involved with a series of diamonds that are a part of The Jewels of the Night. The fate of Paris now falls into the paws of Pepe and Penelope Pussycat, who is given a significant character overhaul here, and they must prevent the Jewels from falling into the wrong hands before it’s too late.
Tropes in this Script:
- Adaptation Personality Change:
- The Penelope depicted here is a far cry from the normally meek and usually silent character she is. She’s willing to be more proactive in order to achieve her goals and while she has a tough exterior, she has moments of emotional vulnerability related to being an abandoned pet instead of Pepe’s pursuits of her.
- Rather than the calm yet devious trickster that’s able to best Bugs Bunny, Cecil Turtle is portrayed as a more emotionally sensitive character and is given a more heroic role as a friend of Pepe.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The film aimed for a more complex take on Pepe and Penelope’s relationship that ultimately ends with the two genuinely loving each other instead of Pepe having a usually one-sided romance with Penelope.
- Big Damn Movie: Instead of Pepe pursuing Penelope across some Parisian locations like a hopeless romantic, the movie finds him in a heist caper that puts him and Penelope in far more danger than normal.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: The script has Michigan J. Frog introduced in this manner when Pepe first meets him. The skunk isn’t impressed with the frog’s attempt at it.
- Black Market: A black market themed around cat items such as catnip and laser pointers is located at an abandoned repair bay for subway cars that Penelope goes to find Pepe.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: It wouldn’t be Looney Tunes without them acknowledging that they’re in a movie. Pepe regularly talks to the audience throughout and Penelope is confused following Pepe’s final fourth-wall break in the climax.Pepe: I have learned a valuable lesson about the importance of trust and vulnerability in coordination with independence and confidence. I have grown as a skunk, and now, I must fulfill my destiny to protect the city, and via that, my identity.
Penelope: Pepe, who do you keep talking to?
Pepe: The audience.
Penelope: There is no audience.
Pepe: There is always an audience. (winks) - Brooklyn Rage: In addition to being portrayed as a confident no-nonsense con artist, Penelope is described as being a native from Brooklyn and has the accent to go with it.
- The Cameo: Daffy Duck briefly appears shortly after the opening logo as part of a flock of flying ducks before the script heads to Paris and expresses contempt for the role he’s given.
- Cats Are Mean: Sylvester has an antagonistic role as he usually does and is responsible for getting Penelope imprisoned at Mattieu’s hands. He’s also a general nuisance towards the people of Paris and the script describes him as an insecure manipulative narcissistic con-man jackass.
- Cats Hate Water: Penelope reacts in fear every time she gets near water. Mattieu takes advantage of this when he has Penelope imprisoned by having a faucet flood the cat carrier she’s in. She overcomes her fear in the end by diving into the river to save Pepe.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Penelope is given a choice at the end to take the jewels as a form of money to get back home or to save a drowning Pepe. She chooses Pepe and it’s solidified by her letting go of the collar that reminded her of her previous home during the rescue.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Penelope uses a frying pan to knock out Claude Cat and Sylvester in order to send them to the animal control center so she can get Pepe and Michigan out of there.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: Matthieu confronts Cecil in the latter’s office and starts ransacking the place to get the turtle to talk about the blueprint Matthieu believes Pepe has. Cecil making a pun about coming out of his shell results in Matthieu getting more aggressive in destroying the room and it ends with him destroying a toy car Pepe gave to Cecil beforehand.
- Interspecies Friendship: Pepe le Pew, a skunk, is depicted as getting along well with Cecil Turtle and Michigan J. Frog.
- Logo Joke: The script called for the opening Warner Bros. Pictures/Warner Animation Group shield to be set against a night sky that turns sunny.
- Look Behind You: After escaping the racoons and being unimpressed with Pepe’s muffin-themed love poem, Penelope attempts to get out of his sight by tricking him into thinking there’s a croissant behind him.
- Meaningful Echo: While being chased out of the black market by raccoons, Pepe tells Penelope “Don’t touch the metal. Only the rubber” in order to avoid getting electrocuted by cut wires. Penelope says that exact line to Wile E. Coyote during the climax before defeating him with a cut-off powerline.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The Jewels of the Night are a set of valuable diamonds that are part of the heist and part of what Matthieu wants so that he can take over Paris.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Matthieu is revealed to be a raccoon-rooster hybrid (or a raccoo-ster as Pepe puts it), born from an affair between a rooster prince and a commoner raccoon bride.
- Money to Throw Away: Pepe throws money that Penelope has onto the pursuing raccoons to distract them and escape their sight. Since that was the money Penelope needed to get back to her home, she’s not happy about it.
- Mythology Gag: Two of Wile E. Coyote’s items used in Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z are prominently featured in the script: the jet bike for when he arrives in Paris (which shows up again in the climactic battle between Pepe and Matthieu) and the green Batman costume he uses to throw Pepe towards the animal control van and later fight Penelope in the climax.
- Nail 'Em: An early chase scene at the Eiffel Tower has Spike firing a nail gun at Pepe. A nail hits Pepe’s paw, but he isn’t too bothered by it.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: All Pepe needs to talk to Elmer Fudd and get the air conditioning blueprint from him is to wear a hat that allows him to pass himself off as human and call himself Michael C. Notaskunk. The C stands for Certainly.
- A Pet into the Wild: Penelope originally had a loving owner who fell ill and had a dog-lover enter her life who kicked her out because his girlfriend was allergic to cats. From there, Penelope spent her time in Paris finding the means to get back home.
- Rascally Raccoon: Matthieu Versaille is the leader of a gang of raccoon crooks and serves as the main antagonist of the film.
- Smelly Skunk: Pepe le Pew, if it wasn’t already obvious. He uses his stench to his advantage during the final battle against Matthieu by spraying his odor onto him.
- The Stinger: The script concludes with Jacques Versaille getting back on his feet after falling from the Eiffel Tower and vowing revenge on le Pew after the end credits montage has wrapped up.
