585. Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin

Director: Joe Dante

Running Time: 91 mins

Looney Tunes: Back In Action is an American film about the epic quest that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with two Warner Bros. employees, embark on to find a man’s missing spy father while uncovering the secrets of the mystical Blue Monkey diamond.

I’d honestly thought that Looney Tunes would stick to the small screen, but when their first film came out, I was happy enough, but hoped they wouldn’t go into the real world. This goes a step too far, and becomes a chaotic parody of god knows how many films that bears very little resemblance to the original series, despite being generally simple enough to enjoy and not grind your teeth at.

The one thing everybody loves about Looney Tunes is how wacky and unrealistic they are. Well, in this film, there’s no room for that to happen, as they get thrust into the real world, with corporate executives, board meetings, humans, and worst of all, the laws of physics.

Honestly, this film completely shoots itself in the foot by coming up with a seemingly wacky idea and turning it into something overly realistic for Looney Tunes, so you never get to enjoy this film in the way that you would have loved the series for, and instead get stuck with constant parodies of hundreds and hundreds of films.

From Indiana Jones to James Bond, The Mummy to Star Wars, Psycho to Singin’ In The Rain, this film never stops copying (not making fun of) stuff from other films, and because of that, it has a very similar feel to Austin Powers.

However, Austin Powers was funny. This is not. Looney Tunes always used to be a small, quirky sort of slapstick comedy, but this takes it way too big, and turns the little cartoons into big blockbuster stars with dull fights, random cameos and sadly, politically correct dialogue.

But don’t despair Looney Tunes fans! If you’re looking for something incredibly simple and generally fun, this is perfectly fine, because although you never laugh your socks off, it is quite often enjoyable enough to bear, so that’s why it gets a 6.1.