Plot: What’s it about?
While comparisons to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” are about the only thing to describe the mess that is “Cool World”; we must try and look beyond that. The movie was based off a comic book and, as such, plays out like one as well. For the polished perfection that “Roger Rabbit” had, this has errors, faulty animation, a sub-standard plot and characters that aren’t really interesting to watch. Then again, this stars a then burgeoning young actor by the name of Brad Pitt and a then still very attractive (and marketable) Kim Basinger. So what went wrong with the movie? Though the word “miscasting” doesn’t really come into play, we have to consider that the cast essentially plays backup due to the nature of the movie. Films that combine animation and live-action are more of a novelty and rarely, if ever, can successfully combine all of the elements and end up a great movie. This isn’t one of those movies. Pitt, I think, was cast as he was the new “hot” actor (after his stint in the previous Summer’s “Thelma & Louise”)…boy, I’m glad he’s out of the spotlight now! Basinger was somewhat of a natural choice for the character of “Holli Would” and Gabriel Byrne is just edgy and eerie enough that he pulled the role off pretty well. To this end, we must consider the plot and then derive what went wrong…
Holli Would (Kim Basinger) is a doodle. She is, essentially, a curvy cartoon character (think Jessica Rabbit). Doodles are sentient beings, but have no touch; they can’t feel things physically. Holli wishes to become human, thereby crossing from her world, Cool World, into that of the real world (hence we see a flesh and bones Kim Basinger from time to time). She hooks up with comic book artist Jack Deebs (who has just recently been released from prison), who has a link to the Cool World. But the flip side to her becoming human, a “Noid” as it is called, has some pretty deep consequences to our world. Enter Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) to clean up the mess. This is the outline of what happens, but plenty more is going on. This is the central problem with the movie, too much is going on at all times to keep up. On a fairly regular basis, cartoons out of the Cool World will show up on screen and start to beat the hell out of each other for no reason. Granted, they’re cartoon characters and probably don’t “know” any better, but it not only destroys the continuity of the movie, but it confuses the audience to no end.
Ralph Bakshi is the man behind the camera and with his resume sporting other works like “Fritz the Cat” and “Wizards”, we know what kind of ride we’re in for here. The guy is in your face as a director and the word “subtle” isn’t in this man’s vocabulary. Giving the actors something to work with is what he should have concentrated on, but instead we’re left with something resembling a full movie, but left in pieces due to the plot holes. True fans of the movie will overlook these, of course; but mainly because they knew what they were going to get in the first place. Brad Pitt is good in his first real “starring” role and Basinger proves that she has what it takes to hold together a movie (given the limitations of her character, naturally). Those hoping for a peek at her skin (both cartoon and otherwise) will have to wait, as nothing like that happens here. The film is now somewhat dated, what with the animation being brought to a higher standard these days. Still, the movie has some high points and if you can handle it (or this is your sort of thing), then “Cool World” is finally on DVD.
Video: How does it look?
The 1.85:1 anamorphic image is something that is fairly hard to describe. As mentioned before, comparison’s to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” are bound to be the only thing that can be used. Still, the movie has a very dark look to it, this is no fault of the transfer, but rather the tone of the movie. There are scenes in which there is totally animation that look a bit more polished, but some grain and dirt seem to have found their way onto the print. The last part of the movie features a very clean-looking sort of animation, almost as if they changed it from earlier. Flesh tones (humans, that is) look on par with what we might expect and though the transfer looks pretty good, we’ve seen and almost certainly expect better from a film that’s just barely over ten years old.
Audio: How does it sound?
A standard that Paramount has lived up to is the re-mastering of their catalog titles (most, anyway) with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. This sounds fairly decent here and though the cartoonish effects get old after a while. The strength of the audio tends to fade in and out, certain scenes that one might think would sound good, don’t and vice-versa. I doubt this is the fault of the soundtrack, though. Dialogue, both cartoon and human, sound great, consistent with what we would expect out of a movie like this. The surrounds aren’t used too much, but a couple of times I noticed them kick in. The overall impression I was left with was that it had potential, but it’s not something that will blow the roof off the place. A somewhat standard job here and won’t deliver too many surprises or disappointments.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Aside from the English subtitles, nothing.
