In this age of filmmaking driven heavily by intellectual property, studios are always trying to find new spins on age-old media. One method that has somewhat fallen out of favor is taking classic cartoon characters and putting them into cross-overs that draw attention to their animated origins.
When most people think of ananimated/live-action cross-over, they think of 1988’sWho Framed Roger Rabbit. That masterful classic was as heavily praised for the then-groundbreaking technique as it was for its stellar storytelling, but later attempts at the format were much more hit or miss. Perhaps the most underrated example of the tiny genre was 2003’sLooney Tunes: Back In Action.
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The history of this film is inextricable from the history of the other big cross-over project, 1996’s smash-hitSpace Jam. The classic that saw Michael Jordan meet Bugs Bunny and friends in a comically bizarre narrative that fans are onlyjust now realizing was terrible. The film was huge, but it was a troubled road to get the thing made. The inspiration behind the film came directly from a couple of commercials, and the sudden increase in scale was a challenge. Developing a movie surrounding an iconic athlete and some of the most beloved cartoon characters ever made is somehow a terrible and brilliant idea at the same time. After theenormous box office profits, Warner Bros. set to work developing sequels. None of which ever really came out in the form they intended.
When it came time to craft a sequel toSpace Jam, the big question was obvious. Which sports activity will the Looney Tunes luminaries take on this time? Warner Bros. tried basketball, but Michael Jordan swiftly shut that down with a firm no. Plenty of alternate ideas was thrown around: a skateboard-based adventure withX-Games legend Tony Hawk, an attempt to make golf funny with Tiger Woods, a movie about NASCAR, tragically entitledRace Jam, starring Jeff Gordon. All these ideas and more were tossed out, discussed, then just as quickly abandoned forever. The one idea that did have a bit of staying power starred martial arts mainstay, Jackie Chan, in a film entitledSpy Jam. Through little-known means, Chan left the project and the name fell away. But the quest to get to the film that did finally release was yet another difficult journey.
Director Joe Dante, best knownfor theGremlinsfilms, wanted to make a comedic biopic about beloved cartoonist Chuck Jones' career in the 1930s. Warner Bros. wanted him to make the sequel toSpace Jam. The director’s creative differences with the studio were the defining element of the production. Dante only took the project out of appreciation for Jones, but he reportedly hated the way the Looney Tunes characters were represented inSpace Jam. The movie that resulted is a combative tug-of-war between WB and Dante. Huge changes were reportedly made in editing, but Dante and screenwriter Larry Doyle maintain that they captured the characters, even if their story didn’t make it to the screen.
Looney Tunes: Back in Actionis thetale of Daffy Duck, fed up with his role as Bugs Bunny’s second-fiddle, is fired by the Warner Brothers. Destroying the WB lot in a madcap chase, Daffy squirrels away with struggling amateur stuntman DJ Drake on a nationwide adventure. Meanwhile, Bugs insists that his routine is nothing without Daffy, thus forcing Warner VP of Comedy Kate Houghton to accompany him as he chases down the duck. The plot builds from there, the odd couple of human characters paired with the classic Bugs and Daffy forming a four-person adventure team. They visit other countries, do battle with aliens, and make non-stop jokes about the state of Looney Tunes in pop culture.
The cast of this film is far better than one would expect. The ever-underrated Brendan Fraser stars as a straight-man action hero, and he’s perfect in the role. Jenna Elfman, found reoccurringonFear the Walking Dead, is a fantastic comically frustrated lead opposite him. Steve Martin takes the villain role as an unhinged Acme businessman, and he’s outstanding as ever. Everyone plays off of the cartoon characters as well as they would real actors. The technique heavily involved acting against scale puppets of the relevant characters before the relevant special effects were added in, and it worked out fabulously. Joe Dante famously lamented the disconnected and scattershot narrative, but that’s really thenature of Looney Tunes. The fact is, the performances are excellent, the commentary is spot-on, the jokes are hilarious, and the movie hangs together a lot better than any other Looney Tunes live-action project.
Space Jam: A New Legacydropped last year to mild success and massive critical derision. The sad truth is, Dante’s vision for Looney Tunes isn’t the one that Warner Bros. wanted. Regardless of that,Looney Tunes: Back in Actionis the movie that deserves to be remembered, even after the disasters that created it.
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