Looney Tunes: Back in Action *** (2003, Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, Joan Cusack) – Classic Movie Review 2559

Director Joe Dante’s 2004 movie finds Warner Bros following up their 1996 Space Jam hit with a new mix of animation and live action. This time Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are embroiled in twin quests to find a blue diamond and to save studio security guard Brendan Fraser’s film-star dad (Timothy Dalton) from evil baddies.

It looks a treat, there are shedloads of movie references for film buffs and the cartooning is stylish and appealing, especially when Bugs goes to Las Vegas and later to Paris, where he steps into famous paintings and comes out drawn in their style.

Though Larry Doyle’s screenplay is a bit clunky and Dante’s direction is often clumsy, Fraser is his ever-genial self, Jenna Elfman makes a spunky heroine and a totally unrecognisable Steve Martin enjoys himself extravagantly as a megalomaniac tycoon.

And it’s a neat idea that Fraser punches out his film star twin, the real Brendan Fraser, when he turns out not to be nice, after all!

Also in the cast are Heather Locklear, Joan Cusack, Bill Goldberg, Don Stanton, Dick Miller, Roger Corman, Kevin McCarthy, Jeff Gordon, Matthew Lillard, Mary Woronov, Marc Lawrence, Bill McKinney, Robert Picardo, Ron Perlman, Vernon Wells, Leo Rossi and George Murdock.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2559

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