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NOT
TOO A-"MOOSE"-ING...
Written
by Thomas
Chau
Cast:
Rene Russo (Natasha), Jason Alexander (Boris), Robert
DeNiro (Fearless Leader), June Foray (Rocky), Keith
Scott (Bullwinkle/Narrator), Piper Perabo (Karen Sympathy),
Janeane Garofalo (Minnie Mogul)
 Premise:
Fearless Leader and his henchman, Boris and Natasha,
escape from the cartoon world and plan on taking over
television in order to persuade the country to vote
Fearless Leader as their president. The FBI sends a
young agent to recruit Rocky and Bullwinkle, who live
on reruns, to come to the real world and help stop the
villains from taking over the world.
Overall
Rating:
(out of 4)
Rated PG
for
cartoon violence
The
classic cartoon characters from the 60's are back for
the new millenium. Unfortunately, they didn't come back
with a bang. More appropriately, it was like a splat
after falling 500 yards off a cliff.
To
be honest, I expected a lot from this movie (maybe even
too much) despite the fact that I've seen "Rocky
and Bullwinkle" maybe once or twice on TV. Those
two were never part of my generation so I was not expecting
to relive a part of my childhood by watching this film.
Instead, I was expecting to be a new kid all over again.
If
you don't count "Star Wars: Episode 1" as
a kids movie, the last "kids" movie I've seen
in a theater would probably be "Space Jam"
back in 1996. Also a combination of live action and
animation, "Space Jam" was able to provide
an entertaining connection for the adults and children
alike. The whole point of "Rocky and Bullwinkle"
was to empasize to the adult audiences watching is that
there is an inner-child among all of us who struggles
to be let loose everyday, which is the reason for such
cartoon characters. The film attempts to use this metaphor
and this is where it fails.
The
movie opens up with a humorous bang by giving a brief
history as to what has happened to the characters since
their cancellation in 1964. Rocky and the ever-so-clueless
Bullwinkle now live in a treeless forrest, with "The
Narrator" (the best character in the movie) forced
to narrate the events in his own life. With the Cold
War over, Boris, Natasha, and Fearless Leader are left
without world domination plans. Instead, they plan on
selling the script rights for a "Rocky and Bullwinkle"
movie. Unexpectedly, they find themselves in the real
world after being "pulled out" from the television.
Fearless Leader hatches a plan to hypnotize the citizens
of the world by showing really bad television in order
to have them vote for him in the upcoming presidential
election. The FBI learns of this and sends Karen Sympathy
to get the help of Rocky and Bullwinkle. As always,
Fearless Leader sends his pets Boris and Natasha to
try to stop them.
The
wit and cleverness of the original series in here in
the movie. There are some witty one-liners in the movie
that can bring a smile or two to anyone. Unfortunately,
there wasn't enough, which caused the entire film to
be stale at some points. Also, there were several references
that may not have been understood by the younger audience.
Does a kid know what it is to "greenlight"
a movie? Would a kid recognize the "You talkin
to me" routine performed by DeNiro in this movie
is a reference to his 1976 hit "Taxi Driver"?
As clever as they were, the writers for this movie should
have rethought some of the material they left in this
script...
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(C)
2000 Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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