Reviews Film / Looney Tunes Back In Action

Looney Tunes: Back in Action Review.

Looney Tunes: Back In Action was the second major attempt by Warner Bros. to revive the Looney Tunes franchise outside of merchandising, but ended up being a major box office flop, while the Looney Tunes Golden Collections, released around the same time, went on to sell over 900 million copies worldwide. Most fans quickly claim that the films failure was due to underpromotion, similar to Warners' The Iron Giant, but i think there's a whole 'nother reason this film failed:

It's just not a good movie.

The plot shoehorns Bugs and Daffy into a horribly unfunny spy plot, with lots of slapstick and cartoony stuff thrown in—however, unlike the old Looney Tunes, which were controlled, well timed, looked and sounded great, and were funny and appealing and actually had characterization, these gags just come off as self-conscious, forced, tired, grating misunderstandings of the comedy of the original Looney Tunes shorts. Like Space Jam, the animation is blended with live action and as a result has that butt ugly, muddy airbrush shading slapped onto it "to make it realistic." But the drawings themselves are so sloppy and weightless in the first place (unlike the old shorts) that even good coloring wouldn't have salvaged them. The music is an obnoxious, forgettable attempt to imitate Carl Stalling's classic musical scores, but misses the whole point as to what made them so great. The human characters are annoying and their attempts at funny acting are forced and unfunny.

It seems like poetic justice that the classic Looney Tunes DV Ds sold like hotcakes with diamonds studded in them, while this forgettable, best forgetton travesty is left rotting away on many a bargain bin DVD store. Good riddance i say. The originals are enough for me.

Rating: 3/10