Looney Tunes Double Feature review

Looney Tunes Double Feature Review                                                                                        5-14-21

To prepare myself for Space Jam 2: A New Legacy later this summer, I decided to review the two previous Looney Tunes movies: Space Jam and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Alien theme park Moron Mountain is going through rough times, and the boss Swackhammer (Danny DeVito) demands new attractions. Swackhammer’s flunkies are sent to Earth to kidnap the Looney Tunes gang so they will perform for the park against their will. Bugs Bunny (Billy West) tells the aliens that if they win a basketball game against the toons, they will be their slaves, so the flunkies harness the power of NBA superstars and turn into hulking Mon-Stars! Now, to win back their rights, the Looney Tunes gang have to contact Michael Jordan, along with female basketball player Lola Bunny (Kath Soucie, no relation to Bugs) if they want to win this game.

I know some people complained about this movie for having a ridiculous story, some dated CG effects, and some small plot holes, but please keep in mind that the original Looney Tunes cartoons were downright daffy, silly, and off-the-rails bonkers. Yes, I agree that the plot can be nonsensical a lot of the time, but there’s also top-notch voice acting, impressive character animation that almost rivals Disney, some good cinematography, and some memorable funny jokes. My favorite line in the movie is when Bugs and Daffy were retrieving Jordan’s lucky shoes, and they were discussing what to name their basketball team. Daffy suggests they call their team ‘the Ducks’, but Bugs disagrees and replies “What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team ‘The Ducks’?”

My one major gripe with Space Jam is that Marvin the Martian, an alien who would serve as a foil for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, is used rather poorly, even though he could’ve easily defeated the Nerdlucks (Swackahmmer’s flunkies). Remember how he basically evaporated Daffy in the original Duck Dodgers?

I’m sorry to say this, Marvin fans, but in Space Jam, he’s reduced to a referee.

In conclusion, while not as bad as other people say it is, Space Jam could’ve been better, but you have to agree on one thing: It’s better than last year’s Scoob.

In another world where humans and toons (aka cartoon characters) live side by side, Daffy Duck (Joe Alasky) has been fired in favor of the more popular Bugs Bunny (also Joe Alasky). After getting Warner Bros security guard Damian Drake Jr. (Brendan Fraser) fired because of Daffy’s antics, he gets a message from his father, who’s also a secret spy, that he’s been kidnapped by the ACME corporation! Now Damian, Bugs, Daffy, and WB Vice President Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman) have to go on a trip around the world to find the fabled ‘Blue Monkey’ Diamond before ACME does for their own diabolical schemes!

Many people, myself included, view Looney Tunes: Back in Action as an improvement over Space Jam with a witty script and animation/live-action interactions that are almost on par with Roger Rabbit.

While most of the toons that appeared in Space Jam were basically eye candy, many of the toons that appear in Back in Action actually push the plot forward, including Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Wile E Coyote, Marvin the Martian, and even the Tasmanian Devil!

Damian gambling with Yosemite with Foghorn Leghorn as the host.

Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, no non-Warner toons appear in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, so nobody from Disney, Don Bluth, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks (who had six animated movies by this point), or even Cartoon Network appears in the movie. The only non-Warner toons that do appear in the movie are Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers.

If I were to complain about one thing, I'd say that both Damian and Kate are painfully bland one-dimensional characters. Not to mention that Joan Cussack is a little young to play Damian's mother.

In conclusion, while it has its issues, Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a movie that would make Looney Tunes legends Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and maybe even Chuck Jones smile. I just hope Space Jam 2 lives up to its hype. It’s also important to note that this movie was the last time hand-drawn animation would be mixed with live-action until 2018 with Mary Poppins Returns.

Space Jam rating: 3.25 stars out of 5.

Back in Action rating: 3.40 stars out of 5.

Movie Review: The Mitchells vs the Machines

Movie Review: The Mitchells vs the Machines                                                                           5-3-21

Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) is a teenage girl who loves to make home movies. However, her father Rick (Danny McBride) starts thinking that she is becoming too reliant on cellphones and computers. When Katie gets accepted into the college of her dreams, Rick cancels her plane tickets and plans a cross-country road trip to spend quality time with her, along with his wife Linda (Maya Rudolph) and Katie’s younger brother Aaron. When machines start rebelling against humanity, however, the Mitchell family has to put their differences aside to save the world.

The Mitchells vs the Machines follows in the same footsteps as The LEGO Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with stylized animation that rivals Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks, engaging three-dimensional characters that families can relate to, and a story with a disturbing message on how over-reliance on technology may result in catastrophic consequences.

Another interesting aspect about ‘Mitchells’ is the usage of 2D animation throughout the film, even though movies like Moana and Captain Underpants did it before.

Most of the characters in the movie are also rather complex, albeit familiar: Rick is essentially a more likable Grug Crood (the Nicholas Cage father from The Croods), and PAL Labs, a company that took over the technology world a few years back, is similar to BnL from WALL-E.

Rick playing with an infant Katie.

Speaking of PAL, the original PAL cellphone, voiced by Olivia Colman, has both a tragic and simple backstory at the same time. PAL co-founder Mark Bowman simply threw her in the trash in favor of humanoid robots that can do things phones or computers can't, namely human labor. Now, she has a vengeance and wants to shoot every human into space and repopulate Earth with machines and electronics.

If I were to complain about one thing, I think that the title is too long. I personally wish they kept it as ‘Connected’, like how they did in the original trailer. Not to mention that most of Sony's animated films have long titles, like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In conclusion, The Mitchells vs the Machines is another great animated film for 2021, though I do have a warning for the parents reading this review: Mitchells vs the Machines is about a robot Apocalypse, so the movie may not be appropriate for single-digit kids. However, Gravity Falls fans will love this movie, as directors Jeff Rowe and Mike Rianda also worked on that show.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

PS. For all those thinking if I liked this more or less than Raya and the Last Dragon, you'll have to wait until June, when I rewatch Raya on Disney+.