LeonLouisRicci
From "Fritz the Cat" (1972) to "Cool World" Ralph Bakshi's Commercial Successes were Few but the Workhorse kept Working and Delivering one Bent "Paint and Brush" Work after another.His "Toons" were Grotesque, Scary, and Not Family Friendly. They were Horrific, mostly and Cut the Cutting Edge Frequently. The Man has Talent and His Vision is Unique, it just Never Found a Place at the Multiplexes or in the Hearts of Mainstream America.His Films are all Worth a Watch. Especially for those that Search for the Unusual.This one is All Over the Map and is more Troubling than most of the Director/Artist Output. It was a Troubled Production from the Beginning. Starting as a Hard "R" it Morphed into a PG-13 Mess about the Time Kim Basinger came On Board.The Producers also Intruded with a Heavy Hand. It's Reported that Bakshi Punched one Square on the Nose when Informed of the Wholesale Changes.Overall, it's Best to Pay Little Attention to the Storyline or Any Kind of Logic, be it Toon or Noid. Just Enjoy the Craziness of the Template and the Imagination of the Images. The Soundtrack is Pretty Cool too.Brad Pitt, Basinger, and Gabriel Byrne go through the Motions, but it is the Maniacal Motion of the Toon Characterizations and the Psychedelic Backgrounds that Highlight. In the End Everything Else is Inconsequential by Default.
Irishchatter
I thought this movie was absolutely terrible. The drawings are bad, the characters are bad and of course, the storyline itself was bad also. The cartoon characters looked obviously from a rip off of Disney & Warner Brother's Looney Tunes together. To be honest, both don't mix well for a parody like this! They should've made it look child friendly when its not or not have done with cartoons at all. Just add the beautiful Holli Would as a cartoon and then she would be transforming as a human in the end. That would be a better idea because then, this movie would be a success without any faults whatsoever!Even if i hate this movie, i do love Holli Would. She is like a bad girl with an attitude. Shes like herself in this and its just ashame that she had to be in this movie. She is so much better than it! Some people say she's a Jessica Rabbit Copycat but, she is not Jessica Rabbit. She really is different from all the sex symbols in the cartoon world. I even loved Kim Basinger when her character Holli turned into a human. She loved absolutely beautiful!This really isn't an ideal film to watch if you think its gonna be child friendly, its not. Its just a sloppy made film that really should've been shelved. I feel so sorry for Brad Pitt, Gabriel Byrne and Kim Basinger being in this film, it is not one of their best films they have ever done!
SnoopyStyle
In 1945 Las Vegas, Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) returns from fighting in Italy. He rides his motorcycle won in a poker game with his mother. They get into an accident and his mother is killed. Frank gets pulled into the animated "Cool World" by Dr. Vincent Whiskers who's trying to escape into the real world using his spike. It's 1992. Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) is in prison for killing his wife's lover. He's a cartoonist who created "Cool World". His creation Holli Would (Kim Basinger) pulls him into the animated world before he returns back to his cell.This is a really outlandish "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" world. Director Ralph Bakshi is more concerned with creating a crazy world than a compelling story or interesting performances. Pitt is stiff not reacting to the cartoon craziness. Byrne seems lost trying to act opposite cartoon characters. Holli is whiny. It's the kind of flashy chaos that distracts from the story or the characters. It's like watching a movie with a light shining into your eyes. This really wants to be cool but it's too crazy for its own good.
MissSimonetta
It disheartens me when I meet someone whose only exposure to Ralph Bakshi is his 1992 misfire, Cool World. Maimed by executive meddling, this is one of the few movies that I regret watching. Yes, it is so bad that it made me keenly aware that I had wasted a small portion of my life for nothing.The plot does not exist. The "plot" is more like an outline of unfinished concepts and themes which lead nowhere. The "rules" of Cool World make no sense. Why does a doodle (animated character) having sex with a noid (live action character) lead to the doodle becoming real? Why does a noid getting killed by a doodle turn the noid into a doodle? Why did we introduce the plot MacGuffin during the final third of the movie?The characters are about as defined as stick figures. Holly, the villain of the piece, has vague motivations which constantly shift over the course of the film. That Kim Basinger's performance consists of nothing but blank stares and cheap eroticism does not help any. Gabriel Byrne sleepwalks through his role as the ex-convict artist Holly seduces. The less said about Brad Pitt's goofy 1940s gumshoe, the better.The integration of animation and live action is terrible. The animated characters look flat and never seem to share the same plane as their live action co-stars, and it's especially obvious in scenes where the noids and doodles touch.The only good thing about Cool World is the background art in the cartoon world, which can only be described as surreal urban decay. They're wonderful to look at; more than can be said for the characters that populate them.Do not watch this at all. If you're curious, then watch some clips and read the synopsis online. This is NOT worth a second of your time.
AD
