Holli Would if she could, but I'd rather she didn't
Paramount Pictures, 1992
in 1988, a movie called "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" hit theaters, and was a commercial and critical success. The story, humor, and incredible blending of animation and live action stunned and entertained all who watched it. And that's even besides the fact that this was the first and only movie to have cartoon characters from the golden age meet for the first time. You got so see Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in the same scene together, Daffy Duck and Donald Duck in a piano duel, and you got a character that would become the obsession of men for years after. The "not bad, just drawn that way" Jessica Rabbit.
That Roger is one lucky son of a bitch
The movie would go on to receive many nominations, and win four academy awards, including one for it's amazing visual effects. This, of course roused the interest of many other companies, who felt that they could come up with something to compete with the popularity of Roger Rabbit. One such company was Paramount Pictures. The snag was, that since most of the major characters were already used in Roger Rabbit, they needed a new world, with new characters. and into the picture came animator Ralph Bakshi.
Bakshi was best known for the animated Lord of the Rings cartoon, as well as works like Coonskin, and Fritz the Cat. Bakshi was ready to make another cartoon, and his idea was that of Cool World. He originally pitched the idea as an animated horror film about a human having sex with a cartoon, and the offspring killing the father. However Paramount had other ideas, and changed the script entirely. Bakshi was put in a corner due to Paramount threatening a lawsuit if he left the film, so much to his chagrin, he directed Cool World.
So, just how uncool was Cool World? Could Bakshi still direct something worthwhile, or was it simply asinine inkings?
Only one way to find out, let's dive in.
We start the movie in Las Vegas in 1945, as Frank Harris (Played by Brad Pitt) returns from the war and is reunited with his mother. And not as soon as they get home decides to surprise his mother with the new motorcycle he won in a card game in Italy, and wants to take her out for a drive. Okay, that's not too bad. Hell, it's not like at the same time they were going for their ride, a drunken and lustful couple are driving recklessly.
Oh.
Oh well, that still doesn't mean by some act of earlier foreshadowing that they're going to crash into each other?
Oh wait that's exactly what happens.
The resounding crash injures Frank, but his mother is killed instantly. However, around the same time the paramedics arrive, from another dimension observes a little animated bald man. And as Frank tries to get up, he suddenly vanishes, only to reappear in a dark room surrounded by animated creatures known as doodles.
The bald man, known as Doc Whiskers, tells Frank that he has come to their world, known as the cool world, through a device known as the dimensional spike. Frank however, seems still a bit woozy from the accident, and finds it a bit hard to believe. but Whiskers thinks he could be useful.
Cut to Las Vegas in 1992. Inside the state penitentiary, Jack Deebs (Played by Gabriel Byrne) is busy drawing a picture of his character Holli Would. It appears that Jack has one day left until freedom, and owes her for keeping him sane. However, the drawing comes to life, and Jack vanishes, and reappears falling into the depths of Cool World. He lands into a night club where Holli is currently dancing at, much to the delight of the freakish creations that watch her. Jack meets his creation for the first time, the femme fatale of this movie Holli Would (Played by Kim Basinger). But before he can come close to her, he teleports back into his jail cell. Cock teased by a drawing. Sucks to be him.
We meet Sparks, who has the hots for Holli, as he throws evil demonic wooden Nickels at three annoying kids. The nickels bite and tear into the trio, and return to Sparks, who is on his way to see Holli. However, Frank, who is now the Cool World's head detective is there as well. they talk, and it becomes clear Holli's intentions are to want to get to the real world. Apparently Vegas Vinnie...
I said Vegas Vinnie, not Vinnie Vegas!
Vegas Vinnie was the creator of the spike and crossed over, and she wants to know why she can't, as the thought of the real world seems to get her quite horny. While they talk, the main problem with this movie becomes apparent quick. In practically every scene there is some form of animation. from a dancing mouse, to a disembodied transparent dog head floating around. Literally every second or so, something strange and pointless goes on. I guess they figured that even if audiences cared less about the story, hey, at least some wacky shit was going on in the background. Frank informs Holli that as long as he's around, no doodle will enter the real world. Holli says that if Frank won't help, she'll find someone who will, namely Jack. Frank leaves, as more wackiness and over animation ensues all around.
Oh, and we learn that real people are known as Noids.
No, not that kind of Noid!
Jack's day arrives, and he finally is a free man. We learn that Jack's Cool World comic has become a major success while he's been in jail. We also learn through exposition (AKA some fat guy) that Jack was in prison for murdering the man who his wife was having an affair with. But before Jack can relax in the real world, Holli brings him back to Cool World. This leads...
Okay, before we continue, it's time for another serving of my oh-so-petty ranting. Outside of the already annoying random doodles and shit flying around, something that's also bothering me is the world itself. when it's inhabited by doodles only, the background is fully animated. When it's Jack or Frank, or one of them with a doodle, the background goes from animated, to flat and very cheap looking set designs. I Could understand if it was a budget situation, or that unlike Roger Rabbit, they didn't have the technology to blend the world better like Roger Rabbit did with Toon Town, but this little annoyance bugs you almost immediately, and is a real turnoff.
Back to the movie.
This leads to Jack encountering Slash, and his gang (After they hustle a cute bunny out of his (Her?) cash), who chase Jack around, and... well, really do nothing but annoy until Holli shows up. She gets right down to the business of seducing Jack, until the cops arrive and give chase, leading to the eventual cliche car chase. Slash urinates on the cops, causing them to hit an oncoming train as Holli and the rest escape.
Back to Frank, who meets up with his love interest, a doodle named Lonette. But before they get too close, Frank's partner, a spider named Nails (voiced by Charles Adler) informs Frank of urgent business, namely Holli. And of course, more wacky shit is on screen at practically every second or so. They head back to the club, where Holli and her goons are headed to as well. Frank confronts them in the club, and begins to arrest Jack. Frank informs Jack that he didn't create Cool World, and that an item like a fountain pen can be a deadly weapon, as Frank dips the pen into a cardboard bottle, as the cheap background nonsense continues to rear it's head. and more wacky shit floats about.
Frank informs everyone again that Noids don't have sex with doodles (which depresses Lonette), and warns Jack of Holli's ways. Yet before Jack can think of anything, he's transported back to the real world yet again.
Frank and Lonette talk for a while about their situation, that he loves her, but due to being unable to have sex with her, therein lies their major problem. However before anything titillating, yet non intercourse related happens, Nails enters and spoils their fun. In the real world, Jack is tormented again by Holli, and sent back into Cool World.
Frank and Nails arrive at Holli's home, but are unable to enter the building through the door. So, they decide to climb up the insanely twisted skyscraper instead. As they break in, Frank confronts Holli and Sparks as to the whereabouts of Jack. However Jack is with Slash and his goons, who deliver Jack to Holli after Frank leaves. Holli finally gets her wish as she and Frank have sex and Holli transforms into a Noid.
Frank feels he needs to settle problems with Lonette, so he leaves Nails to man the phones in case of any leads on Jack. Sparks informs Nails of Holli/Jack's situation and plans to head to the real world. Deciding to let Frank and Lonette have time to themselves, Nails takes matters into his own hands. Which amounts to him being trapped in Frank's fountain pen thanks to Holli. Well, that's the silly sidekick for you.
Holli and Jack head to the real world, as Frank learns of the situation from Sparks. Int he real world, Holli decides to ditch Jack to perform with a band. However, the side effects of leaving Cool World begin to show on Jack. He tbegins to have strange spasms that transforms him, and whatever he touches into a doodle. The same situation befalls Holli, but it turns her into a clown for some reason (Why not just back into Holli?). At the same time in Cool World, Frank informs Lonette that he's heading to the real world to stop Jack and Holli, and promising her that he will return. He does so by remembering the accident, and how he got to Cool World in the first place.
As the duo deal with the constant doodling, Holli remembers that the spike of power that Vegas Vinnie invented could be the way to fix the doodle problem, But when Jack opts against it, Holli Throws him out of the car, and heads to the casino. Meanwhile, Frank enters the world through Jack's house, just as Jack returns. The duo decide to work together to put a stop to Holli's scheme, along with a neighbor of Jack's who does harbor feelings for him. According to Frank, Vegas Vinnie was a myth created by him and Doc Whiskers, as the two of them found a way to place the spike that the doc invented into the real world. and if used wrongfully, it could destroy both universes. Speaking of which, Holli Encounters Doc Whiskers, and demands the spike. When the doc refuses to help, she blows him up with the pen.
And thus Frank gives chase to Holli, while Jack and his friend rebuild Whiskers. Frank confronts Holli as she nears the top of the building, but she tricks him, causing him to fall to his death, and dropping Jack's pen in the process. Jack uses his acquired doodle powers to extend his arms to reach up to the roof and face off with Holli, as she nears the spike which is atop the electric sign on the casino roof. She grabs the spike, which for some reason releases a bunch of demonic ghosts from Cool World, which spill into the real world. When Jack touches it, he turns into a Superman ripoff, and grabs the spike as the real people transform into doodles and more of this movies animated insanity resumes. Nails is freed and attends to Frank, while Jack battles a plethora of doodles and eventually placing the spike back into it's right spot, which sends himself, Holli and the evil doodles vanishing into the unknown.
Nails, Whiskers, and Frank's corpse return to Cool World as well. Somehow, because Holli was a doodle when she killed him, he can return as a doodle. The two can finally have their happy ending, while Jack and Holli are trapped forever in a comic book universe.
And That's Cool World in a Nutshell. My Oh My, what a crappy film. While the animation is well done, the music is catchy and appropriate, and the design of the Cool World is absolutely amazing, the plot is all over the place, and the acting from the live action characters, especially Pitt and Byrne, comes off extremely wooden and hollow. And most importantly, there's far too much craziness going on through the Cool World itself. that and the whole set stuff i ranted on earlier.
One has to wonder if Ralph Bakshi would have gotten his original script made as the Cool World movie instead if it would've been a better movie than this, but that will be a question that's never answered.