This is going to be impossible. I don’t know what to say about The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle. It opens updating us to where Rocky and Bullwinkle have been for the last thirty odd years. The flying rat, I mean squirrel, and his buddy the moose have been hanging out in Frostbite Falls doing pretty much nothing. Did any of us really notice they’ve been gone for so long? I do remember their reruns when I was a kid, but I never found them to be all that entertaining. I always liked the Flintstones more. It’s too bad the Flintstones movies were a mess. So can a cartoon that was pretty average make good going to film when a great cartoon bombed so hard? Honestly, I don’t have an answer to that question.
Well, first off I was glad they opted to keep Rocky and Bullwinkle as cartoons and not some anybody dressed up in bad animal suits. However, the characters of Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro), Natasha (Rene Russo), and Boris (Jason Alexander) were real, zapped into the three dimensional world by a desperate movie producer played by Janeane Garofalo. The three baddies from Pottsylvania are geared up to take over the world. The FBI can’t stop them, so they get the best: Rocky and Bullwinkle. Um, well, remember, this is a movie.
To say the least, the movie is entertaining. It isn’t high brow, and some of the laughs that go over kiddies’ heads won’t go over adults. They opt for many jokes in the style of the Simpsons, but fall short from there. The IQ level isn’t high for this film. Trust me. I laughed on occasion, but found it mostly thin. I think the biggest problem is that kids have no idea who Rocky and Bullwinkle are. If they think this movie will bring those old reruns back and spark huge ancillary sales, they are crazy.
Most of the biggest laughs are ones adults will get. Perhaps the funniest was Robert DeNiro parodying himself with, “You talking to me?” All the silly puns that Rocky and Bullwinkle borrowed from Abbott and Costello fall cold here. The many associations to Americana and its cliches are just not that funny. And who thought of bringing Billy Crystal in for a spot? That was so unfunny. John Goodman is there as a cop, doing what, I don’t know. Whoopi’s gig as a judge is pathetic. As lame as all these guest spots were, I give big props to Jonathan Winters who plays a few different characters. He is funny for the few minutes he is on-screen. The guest stars were obvious attempts at putting some people in the theaters. They were hardly necessary.
I honestly think if you can get your kids interested enough to watch the movie, they will have fun. You don’t need to know a thing about who Rocky and Bullwinkle are to laugh.
+ charlie craine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.