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Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 Warner Bros. film that combines live-action and animation to tell the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake (played by Brendan Fraser), who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father (played by Timothy Dalton). In his globe-trotting adventure, he is aided (and confounded) by his animated Hollywood friends, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as well as the studio executive who fired him (played by Jenna Elfman). Written by Larry Doyle and directed by Joe Dante, this film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical of the genre. Grossing around US$21 million (US$68 million worldwide), it was a considerably large bomb, partially due to stiff competition from Elf and The Cat in the Hat, but earned relatively positive reviews from critics, including those that gave Space Jam bad reviews. Because of its poor box-office results, Warner Bros. is having second thoughts about the current popularity of the Looney Tunes.

Notably, the film was Jerry Goldsmith's last as composer. Due to Goldsmith's failing health, much of the film was actually scored by John Debney, though Goldsmith was the only credited composer.

Taglines for the film included "Real life has never been so animated," "How do they solve a mystery when they don't have a clue?", and "The biggest animated adventure ever to hit real life."

Story

Daffy Duck, tired of playing "stooge" to the "long-eared, carrot-biting, overbite challenged rabbit" or in other words, Bugs Bunny, gets rather jealous of Bugs in a meeting with the Warner Brothers. Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman), the Vice President of Comedy, reveals to Daffy that Bugs is much more popular than Daffy, saying the duck's fan base is limited to "fat guys in basements." After Daffy discovers he has already been fired, he is escorted out of the board room by Kate and Bugs.

Meanwhile, DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser) is at a stuntman audition, but is not impressing the judge panel which includes The Crusher. DJ is revealed to be the son of James Bond-like actor Damian Drake (Timothy Dalton). DJ is asked to escort Daffy off the studios, but this results in chaos, including the Batmobile being driven into the studio's water tower. DJ is fired from being a security guard.

Some of the other cartoon characters are struggling in stardom, especially Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzales. Scooby Doo and Shaggy (both are appropriately voiced by Frank Welker and Casey Kasem) consult Matthew Lillard who portrayed Shaggy in the live-action Scooby Doo movie. Kate tries to change Bugs' famous gags by teaming him up with a female co-star. Bugs counters this with his famous crossdressing gag.

DJ returns to his home (he lives next to Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety Bird) and finds Daffy has hitched a ride. Daffy learns DJ is Damian Drake's son. DJ accidentally activates a hidden video screen in a portrait of his father and his father speaks to him, asking him to come to Las Vegas and ask "Dusty Tails" (Heather Locklear) for the Blue Monkey, a diamond with supernatural powers. DJ and Daffy head off in Damian's old Gremlin car, which Daffy believes is Damians's spy car.

Kate and the Warner Bros. watch a ridiculous routine of the "Rabbit Season, Duck Season" gag which results in Elmer finally shooting Bugs after he mixes up his lines. The Warner Bros. fire Kate but if she gets Daffy back they'll forgive her for her actions. Daffy and DJ travel to Las Vegas, Bugs ringing up Daffy and informing him about the news of the studio wanting him back. Daffy refuses to come back and explains to Bugs about his new adventure.

Unknown to Daffy and DJ, their conversation is being watched by the board of directors of the ACME Corporation. Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin), a rather geeky and odd man, realises DJ knows of the Blue Monkey and plans to capture him as his father has already been captured. Mr. Chairman starts flirting with one of his Vice Presidents called Mary.

Kate goes to DJ's house and finds Bugs, and also discovers DJ is Damian Drake's son. Bugs informs her of where Daffy has gone too and they follow in a Damian's true spy car (a TVR Tuscan), which they found in Damian's garage. While on their way, Kate activates a gadget in the car that puts them in formal clothes.

DJ and Daffy arrive at Las Vegas and enter the Wooden Nickel casino owned by the midget cowboy, Yosemite Sam, who is an operative of ACME. Mr. Chairman informs Yosemite Sam to keep the two heroes within the casino. Mr. Smith (Bill Goldberg), Mr. Chairman's hitman offers Sam a treasure chest (which he uses to clobber Sam with). Foghorn Leghorn introduces the casino's next act, which is Dusty Tails. DJ gets to Dusty and she reveals she is a spy like Damian. She gives DJ a Queen of Diamonds playing card. Daffy explains to Dusty he doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear"...until Yosemite Sam and his underlings, Nasty Canasta and Cottontail Smith appear with a cannon. Daffy to blasted into a fire extinguisher. DJ gives chase and he and Daffy flee from the cowboys, but get in a fight. DJ loses the playing card which ends up in a gambling game run by Foghorn. DJ and Yosemite Sam play but Sam gets angered for not being hit at all and when he demands that Foghorn hits him, he literally does with a plank of wood. DJ re-obtains the card and he and Daffy race to the Gremlin which falls to pieces.

Yosemite Sam and his cronies commandeer Jeff Gordon's racecar and chase Daffy and DJ. The two heroes run into Kate and Bugs, and drive off in the spy car with the cowboys not far behind. They finally lose the villains when they are about to drive into a wall but a word from Daffy activates the car's secret rocket boosters, causing it to fly away. Yosemite Sam and his minions crash into the Wooden Nickel, Sam flying into a room full of TNT barrels...which initially explode, destroying the Wooden Nickel. DJ accidentally crashes the spy car into the middle of the Death Valley.

The next day, the heroes come across a Wal-Mart store in the middle of the desert (which is assumed to be a mirage) and get free stuff in exchange for endoursement of Wal-Mart. ("nice of Wal-Mart to provide us with these free Wal-Mart beverages in exchange for saying Wal-Mart so many times.") Mr. Chairman interrogates Yosemite Sam about last night's events and after getting his answers, he flings Sam out of a window on a bungee cord. One of the VPs who is the chairman's father suggests they get the "Desert Operative" to deal with the heroes. The Desert Operative is none other than Wile E. Coyote who is as usual chasing Road Runner. Coyote orders a missile launcher from the ACME Online Catalogue and uses it to kill the heroes, but it backfires and blows him up.

The heroes stumble across Area 52, the real secret military base where the aliens are stored. The base's leading researcher, known as Mother has been expecting DJ and reveals to him that the Blue Monkey is a powerful gem that can be used by the Chairman to turn the human race into monkeys. Mr. Chairman scolds Wile E. Coyote but forgives him for his past actions. He phones Marvin the Martian who is imprisoned within Area 52 to get the playing card and viciously and painfully destroy Daffy. Marvin frees and himself and all the other aliens at the base and attacks DJ and the others. The heroes get out safely.

They discover that a picture of the Mona Lisa is on the playing card and head to the Louvre in Paris to find a new clue. DJ discovers that there is an extra layer to the card and finds a window which he uses to discover hidden things under the Mona Lisa, including embarrassing results. He finds a map of Africa. Elmer Fudd appears wanting the window and he reveals he is secretly evil. Bugs and Daffy flee from Elmer throughout the museum, leaping into several paintings like The Scream causing hilarious situations. Kate is kidnapped by Mr. Smith and taken to the top of the Eiffel Tower. DJ tries to get help from Pepé Le Pew but fails and after his trousers take flight thanks to a rocket booster in the back, he steals the pants off of Papa Bear of The Three Bears. Beaky Buzzard flies overhead in a helicopter and helps Mr. Smith escape with the camera belonging to Kate. Bugs and Daffy defeat Elmer by running into another painting that results in Elmer coming out in a pointillism effect. Bugs blows him to pieces using a fan. Kate falls down the side of the Eiffel Tower but is saved by DJ.

ACME discovers the location of the Blue Monkey and prepare to head out to Africa. Damian knows DJ will save the world but Mr. Chairman thinks otherwise and tortures Damian using a Slap-Yourself-In-Your-Own-Face device, invented by Peter Lorre. Mr. Chairman decides to unleash his most vicious operative: Taz. The VP for Never Learning criticizes Taz, and the Chairman releases Taz upon the VP, transforming him into a skeleton.

In Africa, DJ, Kate, Bugs and Daffy run into Granny, Sylvester and Tweety riding an elephant through the jungle. They hitch a ride and discover some ancient giant monkey figureheads. Here, they locate the Blue Monkey. Granny, Sylvester and Tweety upzip bodysuits to reveal themselves as Mr. Chairman (the film's second example of crossdressing), Mr. Smith and Taz in disguise. The Chairman grabs the Blue Monkey and Mr. Smith uses a Disintergrating Pistol to transport him and the heroes back to the ACME Corporation building. He then reveals himself to Taz as a female Tazmanian Devil and they get married.

DJ and Kate are chained up and find Damian on a railway track about to be runover by the Train of Death. They free themselves but are attacked by a giant ACME Guard Dog. Bugs and Daffy head into space after Marvin the Martian to a satellite where the Blue Monkey will transmit a monkey-transforming beam around the globe. Daffy becomes Duck Dodgers and saves the day by deflecting the satellite. DJ saves Damian from certain death and Wile E. Coyote is blown up (as well as the Train of Death in an explosive train wreck). Marvin is trapped in a bubble and floats off into space. Mr. Chairman is hit by the Blue Monkey's power and becomes a monkey. He is arrested by Damian. Bugs and Daffy crashland their spaceship into the side of the building but survive unharmed. Daffy then discovers the whole adventure has been a movie! DJ punches Brendan Fraser after the actor criticizes his previous fiasco involving the water tower. Bugs heads off in a limo, announcing to Daffy they are now equal partners. Daffy gets crushed by a falling round metal plate which is revealed to be the symbol of the Looney Tunes. Porky Pig fails to perform his ending spiel by the closing of the studio and he tells the audience to go home.

The complete cartoon cast

Cultural references

One of the most entertaining features for adults is the plethora of cultural references in Back in Action. A considerable number of classic movies are referenced in quick throwaway scenes, many famous works of art are shown rather out of their normal context, and many other primarily American cultural jokes appear in the course of DJ Drake and his cartoon associates' adventures.

Cinematic references

Besides the appearance of most of the well-known Warner Brothers cartoon characters and many of their best lines ("I told ya we shoulda made that left toin at Albuquerque!"), there are visits from two other famous cartoon studios:

  • In a nod to WB arch-competitor Disney and their current rival Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003), after a water tower floods the studio lot, Bugs, fishing in a boat in back of Kate's Alfa Romeo, declares, "Hey, whadda ya know? I found Nemo!", at which a small orange fish pops out of the water on his line.

There are also many live-action television and movie references. Some run throughout the film, but most are only brief scenes which merely show the characters, challenging the viewer to recall where they've seen that familiar face. An incomplete list of such amusing references, in rough order of appearance, includes:

  • Batman and the Batmobile from the film version of Batman (1989).
  • The Blue Monkey diamond at the heart of the film's plot is most likely a reference to the Pink Panther diamond at the heart of the plot of the eponymous film, especially since a successful animated character developed from the concept. Steve Martin would go on to star in the 2006 remake
  • Timothy Dalton as Damien Drake, a very James Bond-like secret agent, who also happens to share a last name with British spy John Drake from Danger Man (Secret Agent in the U.S.).
  • When the Gremlin car is first revealed the soundtrack reprises the first few notes of the theme from Gremlins (1984).
  • Daffy Duck quoting Jack Nicholson's Marine colonel Jessup ("You can't handle the truth!") from A Few Good Men (1992).
  • Bugs Bunny's black-and-white shower scene evoking the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho (1960), down to the dozens of odd angles and close-up shots, and using cartoon-appropriate chocolate syrup for fake blood. (Alfred Hitchcock reportedly used chocolate syrup for the blood in the original scene, presumably because the combination of color-tone and consistency worked well in a black-and-white film.)
  • A road trip to Las Vegas with Elvis Presley on the radio, singing the eponymous theme song to Viva Las Vegas (1964).
  • Dusty Tails (Heather Locklear), after a Britney Spears-style performance, zips up in leather like Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) from TV spy show Alias. "I also work for the Agency. Professional assassin."
  • The graffiti "Hi There" on Wile E. Coyote's missile alludes to the nuclear bomb from Dr. Strangelove.
  • The four-eyed green spider creature in "Area 52" has sharp legs and moves abruptly like the arachnoid enemy of 1997 film Starship Troopers.
  • Robby the Robot, who first appeared in Forbidden Planet (1956) and was featured in many later sci-fi shows, makes his first film appearance since Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) here.
  • The gorilla wearing a diving helmet who utters, "There is no escape!", is right out of B-movie Robot Monster (1953), down to the flashing video negative effect.
  • The insect humanoid with the large exposed brain is from sci-fi classic This Island Earth (1955).
  • The curious pink brain-like creature with two eyestalks, tentacles, and a snakelike body is from Fiend Without a Face (1958).
  • Kevin McCarthy reprises his role as Dr. Miles Bennell from the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), even appearing in black-and-white and carrying a pod creature. He repeats his plaintive warning from the end of that movie: "They're already here! You're next! You're next!"
  • A sly reference to another B-movie, The Eye Creatures (1965), features an uncredited Peter Graves as a Civil Defense narrator for the Blue Monkey video briefing, similar to his uncredited flying-saucer film briefing narration in the 1965 movie.
  • The weapons cabinet which suddenly pops into place evokes a similar scene from The Matrix (1999).
  • The snapping plant alludes to the classic black comedy, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960, remade in 1986, and also a long-running musical play).
  • The conical robots yelling "Exterminate them!" are Daleks from films based on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who (distinguishable from the TV versions by the "vapor spray" weapon). It was at the insistence of Steve Martin that Daleks be used in that scene.
  • The dancing owlette singing "I Love to Singa", a la Al Jolson, refers to an early "classic" Looney Tunes color short, unsurprisingly called I Love to Singa.
  • The Jerry Lewis poster at the Eiffel base which reads "OÙ TROUVEZ-VOUS LA GUERRE?" ("Where do you find the war?") comes from Which Way to the Front? (1970). The movie poster displaying Lewis open-mouthed in German officer attire is authentic.
  • The cartoon ACME aide who looks and sounds like Guillermo Ugarte (Peter Lorre) from Casablanca (1942) is a variation on Warner Bros.' frequent allusions to Lorre's memorable character.
  • When multicolored Tweety birds attack Sylvester, the original Tweety, dressed in colorful African garb, yells, "Cwy fweedom!", an obvious reference to the film Cry Freedom (1987).
  • In the monkey village scene, the booby-trapped "Barrel of Monkeys", the darts, and the rock that creates a "pressed duck" (ha-ha) all pay homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
  • The ACME chairman's third disguise in the monkey village scene is basketball star Michael Jordan, who also played with the Warner Bros. cartoon cast in Space Jam (1996).
  • In a possible allusion to the final act of Flash Gordon (1980), Bugs and Daffy crash through the windows of the ACME tower with their stolen spaceship.
  • The ACME Train of Death exploding seems to be a reference to another Warner Bros. film, The Fugitive (1993), as well as another explosive animated train wreck, in Don Bluth's Anastasia (1997).
  • A possible refernce is after Damien Drake throws a grenade, the guard lets out theWilhelm Scream.

There are also a number of Star Wars saga riffs throughout Back in Action:

  • When Marvin the Martian reaches the satellite, Bugs says, "Eh, what's up, Darth?"
  • Bugs makes a double reference to the film series as he absentmindedly battles Marvin with a lightsaber while reading The Force for Dummies (which also alludes to the famous "For Dummies" series of instruction books).
  • In the monkey village, when the ACME chairman pulls off his second costume and shows himself as Damien, he says, "Look into your heart. You know it's true." DJ Drake replies, "No, it can't be true." This recalls similar dialog between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
  • When Marvin finally spins off into space after accidentally "bubbling" himself, he says, "Darn Dark Side!". This is reminiscent of Darth Vader's tumbling departure from the Death Star in the original A New Hope (1977).

Art references

In the scene at the Louvre, where Elmer Fudd maniacally pursues Bugs and Daffy into and out of paintings, many famous works of art are abused in classic zany cartoon style. A partial list of those works include:

Also, in the frenetic scene where Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer dash in and out of various doors in a hallway, they appear in many characterizations of famous art works.

Other cultural references

  • In the "Batman" stunt scene, Roger Corman, prolific B-movie director, essentially appears as himself.
  • The secret government facility, "Area 52", pokes fun at the mysterious "Area 51" facility on the Nellis Air Force Range, unacknowledged by the U.S. government, where the military is rumored to hold evidence of extraterrestrials.
  • The alien tickling scene recalls Ray Santilli's infamous "Alien Autopsy" videotape, still a popular subject of ufologists despite its lack of credibility.
  • During the chase in Yosemite Sam's casino, the participants run across some dogs playing poker, much like in Looks Like Four of a Kind by C. M. Coolidge, an oil painting better known as "Dogs Playing Poker".
  • Jeff Gordon appears as an unnamed race car owner, driving his No. 24 DuPont Rainbow Car.
  • In the desert, Daffy's beak is so hot, he cooks an egg on it, alluding to the expression "hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk".
  • The scene with the Wal-Mart in the middle of the desert mocks not only Wal-Mart's ubiquity, but also general commercial product placement in movies. The heroes hold a conversation peppered with Wal-Mart slogans and product names.
  • The ACME laptop that Wile E. Coyote uses to order his missile system has a browser that looks suspiciously like Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The website he orders it from blares an offer for free gift-wrapping that looks very much like Amazon.com's system.
  • Among the secret Area 52 VHS videotapes locked up inside Robby the Robot are "THE BLUE MONKEY", "MOON LANDING DRESS REHEARSAL" (alluding to the rumored faking of the Apollo moon landings), "HOW SAUSAGE IS MADE" (a humorous riff on the common expectation that people might not want to eat this popular food if they observed its preparation), and "CONGRESSMEN GONE WILD VOL. 6" (the "WILD VOL." is mainly a guess as the title is partly obscured, in probable reference to the pornographic Girls Gone Wild series).
  • In the opening shots of Paris, two nuns can be seen walking alongside several pairs of girls in blue dresses. This is a direct reference to the Madeline series of books by Ludwig Bemelmans.
  • In one scene, DJ Drake fights with Yosemite Sam's goons, and Daffy tells him to "bite his ear!" This is a reference to boxer Mike Tyson, who bit off a portion of Evander Holyfield's ear during a boxing match.
  • In the scene where Daffy Duck and DJ Drake are making their way to Las Vegas, DJ tries to convince Daffy that he is not a full time security guard as believed and tries to make himself sound good by claiming that he is a stuntman. While Daffy laughs, DJ tries to sell this as fact and says "Have you seen them Mummy movies? I'm in there more than Brendan Fraiser is. This is a reference to another Brendan Fraiser movie: The Mummy, and The Mummy Returns.

See also

External links

2003 films | Looney Tunes films | Films directed by Joe Dante | Live-action/animated films | Films shot in Super 35

Les Looney Tunes passent à l'action

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Looney Tunes: Back in Action".

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