Psycho's Movie Reviews #355: The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle (2000)

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is a 2000 American live-action/animated adventure slapstick comedy film directed by Des McAnuff and produced by Universal Pictures, based on the television cartoon of the same name by Jay Ward. Animated characters Rocky and Bullwinkle share the screen with live actors portraying Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro, who also co-produced the film), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander) and Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) along with Randy Quaid, Piper Perabo, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. June Foray reprised her role as Rocky, while Keith Scott (no relation to original voice actor Bill Scott) voiced Bullwinkle and the film's narrator. It also features cameo appearances by performers including James Rebhorn, Paget Brewster, Janeane Garofalo, John Goodman, David Alan Grier, Don Novello, Jon Polito, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Max Grodenchik, Norman Lloyd, Jonathan Winters and Billy Crystal. The film follows a young rookie FBI agent named Karen Sympathy enlisting the help of Rocky and Bullwinkle to stop Boris, Natasha, and Fearless Leader from taking over the United States.

Released on June 30, 2000, the film was a box office bomb, grossing $35.1 million worldwide against its $76 million budget and received generally mixed reviews with criticisms toward its writing, plot, and humour while praising the performances, visual effects, and faithfulness to its source material.

Plot

Rocky the Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose live a melancholic life ever since their television series was cancelled in 1964. Their animated home, Frostbite Falls, is deforested, Rocky can no longer fly, and their show's unseen Narrator lives with his mother. Meanwhile, their archenemies, Fearless Leader, Boris Badenov, and Natasha Fatale, have all lost power in Pottsylvania following the end of the Cold War. They escape by tunnelling to a Hollywood film studio, where they trick executive Minnie Mogul into signing a rights contract to their series and green-lighting a potential movie, dragging the villains out of the animated world and transforming them into live action characters.

Six months later, Fearless Leader and his minions have founded RBTV ("Really Bad Television"), a cable television network in New York City that is programmed to control the population by brainwashing American audiences into voting Fearless Leader in as the next President of the United States. FBI Director, Cappy von Trapment, deploys agent Karen Sympathy to recruit Rocky and Bullwinkle to stop RBTV's intended broadcast. Karen travels to a movie-generating lighthouse in Los Angeles, summoning Rocky, Bullwinkle, and the Narrator into the real world.

Upon learning of Rocky and Bullwinkle's return, Fearless Leader deploys Boris and Natasha to destroy them. They are given the CDI ("Computer-Degenerating Imagery"), a laptop-like weapon that can trap cartoon characters within the internet. The villains' truck is stolen by Karen, who is swiftly arrested by Oklahoma State Police troopers when Natasha poses as her. Boris and Natasha later steal a helicopter to continue their pursuit. Karen is sent to prison, but manipulates a love-struck Swedish guard named Ole to help her escape. Rocky and Bullwinkle are picked up by students Martin and Lewis, who attend Bullwinkle's alma mater Wossamotta U. Boris and Natasha launch an elaborate plan to assassinate Bullwinkle, donating a cheque to the university in his name, inspiring the academic board to award Bullwinkle with an honorary "Mooster's Degree". As Bullwinkle addresses the students, Rocky regains his ability to fly, stopping Boris from killing Bullwinkle with the CDI.

Boris and Natasha chase Rocky and Bullwinkle through Chicago, but disintegrate their own helicopter. Karen reunites with Rocky and Bullwinkle, but the trio are arrested again by numerous state troopers. They are trialled for numerous misdemeanours (California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), but the presiding Judge Cameo has the charges dropped upon recognizing Rocky and Bullwinkle, informing the district attorney that celebrities are above the law. The trio buy a rickety biplane and escape Boris and Natasha once again. The two villains consider retiring from villain's job, lying to Fearless Leader that they had defeated Rocky and Bullwinkle, confident that they have already won. Meanwhile, the heroes' plane begins to lose altitude due to the combined weight. Rocky flies Karen to New York to stop the broadcast, but they are captured by Boris and Natasha. Fearless Leader initiates his plan and broadcasts programs to brainwash most of the country.

Bullwinkle crash-lands the plane outside the White House in Washington, D.C., and finds the President to be brainwashed by the RBTV programs, which Bullwinkle is immune to due to his natural stupidity. Luckily, Cappy finds Bullwinkle and scans him into the White House's computer system, then e-mails him to the studio just as Fearless Leader addresses the nation, disrupting the broadcast. A chaotic fight breaks out, leading to the capture of the villains. Karen, Rocky, and Bullwinkle then ask the American public to replant Frostbite Falls. Bullwinkle accidentally activates the CDI, transforming the villains back to their animated forms and banishing them to the internet once and for all.

In the aftermath, Rocky and Bullwinkle's careers are renewed in RBTV (renamed to "Rocky and Bullwinkle Television") Karen goes on a date with Ole, as Rocky, Bullwinkle, and the Narrator return home to a rejuvenated Frostbite Falls.

Production

In October 1998, it was announced Monica Potter had been cast as the lead. Robert De Niro was also announced to be in negotiations for the role of Fearless Leader, with Des McAnuff set to direct from Kenny Lonergan’s screenplay. In November 1998, Jason Alexander was cast as Boris Badenov. In January 1999, Rene Russo was cast as Natasha Fatale. In February 1999, Potter dropped out from the lead role and was replaced by Piper Perabo.

Release/Reception/Box Office

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 4.81/10. The critical consensus stated, "Though the film stays true to the nature of the original cartoon, the script is disappointing and not funny." On Metacritic the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "Has the same mixture of dumb puns, corny sight gags and sly, even sophisticated in-jokes. It's a lot of fun."

Rocky & Bullwinkle opened in 2,460 venues, earning $6,814,270 in its opening weekend and ranking fifth in the North American box office and third among the week's new releases. It closed on October 5, 2000 with a domestic total of $26,005,820 and $9,129,000 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $35,134,820, making it a box office bomb.

The failure of the film was attributed to the film not being fresh enough for young audiences or appealing to the nostalgia of Baby boomers.

Budget $76 million

Box office $35.1 million

My Review

What is it about cartoons failing financially at the movies? What is missing in the transition from the TV to the big screen? Is it the lack of substance? Or could it be that a cartoon's charm is only limited to a twenty-minute time slot? I'm not quite sure myself but it is disappointing that most adaptations to the big screen end being a flop. Thankfully there are some that try really hard to stick to the old and not involve the characters in a non-cartoony plot.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was set up as a low-budget parody of television and film animation. It was rife with in-jokes, sardonic comments on the media, bad puns, occasional feints at adult humour. It was not your average kids show. It wore its poverty-row production on its sleeve. It mocked all our expectations, and a good many of our cultural shibboleths - contemporary academia and small-town middle-America both felt its sting.

A movie that can mirror this kind of description would be The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Sure this movie has not gained a whole lot of appreciation but for the fans who truly respect the original series, you can see why this movie is one of those live action cartoon movies that stands out from the others. How come? Because the film uses its goofiness from its original episodes and uses it throughout the film. This movie is similar to The Muppets (2011) movie plot. Over a certain length of time, Rocky and Bullwinkle have been forgotten in the past until they are needed again 35 years later.

So has anything really changed character-wise in this movie, absolutely not. Rocky, Bullwinkle, Fearless Leader, Boris, Natasha and even the narrator are all in this movie. Even the screenplay between all live action characters are like the original. After a misunderstood conversation between Rocky and Bullwinkle, the narrator states, "Yes even their word play had become hackneyed and cheap" and then Bullwinkle replies to the narrator, "No, it was always like this". Oh how right you are Bullwinkle!

Aside from the main cartoon characters, Piper Perabo who plays Agent Karen Sympathy is given the assignment to get the daring duo out of the cartoon world and into the real world. The mission: to stop the nefarious Fearless Leader played by Robert De Niro. De Niro is actually a wise choice for the role of Fearless Leader. I truly can't imagine another actor playing that part. Fearless Leader is a difficult cartoon character to mimic verbally and physically so I give De Niro credit for that. Jason Alexander and Rene Russo team up as the Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. They too both mimic their cartoon characters fairly well.

So what is there about this movie that makes it a good cartoon adaptation? Well besides the main cast, there are many famous actors that make cameo appearances. A couple that come to mind are John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Don Novello. Some play multiple characters while others play only one. Either way, this movie has a lot of star power.

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle may look like another worthless cartoon adaptation but it sticks to its roots and gives all that it has. Thanks to a good cast of actors, not only are the cartoon characters supported but it also makes its cheery screenplay work well too.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was kinda like Jazz - you either got it or you didn't. The low rating on this film only indicates that this is true for the movie as well.

The original show largely survived because of its low cost, and through syndication allowing it to be re-edited for marginal time slots, e.g., 5 am. It was only years after it ceased production that it's real strengths began endearing it to millions. In like manner, I suspect this film is on its own quiet, gradual way to becoming a cult classic. Parents will play it for their kids who will wonder "WTF?!" - then, ten years later the light-bulb will click on for those same kids, and they will 'get it' - and another generation of Rocky and Bullwinkle fans will come of age.

I really liked it as a kid, but I saw it again after 5 years or so, and it doesn't wow me as much. It isn't a terrible film, but it isn't a great one either. I will confess I haven't seen the show, so I can't judge whether Rocky and Bullwinkle were out of character, though I did read somewhere, that the voice of Bullwinkle was not the same as the one in the show. Well, the show is 35 years old or so. The biggest flaw, and I really hate to say this, is Robert DeNiro, yet another talented actor wasted in a thankless role. Here, he acquires a German accent and all, and it really doesn't suit him at all. There was a attempt to liven it up, but here DeNiro seemed ashamed of himself, and it showed in his delivery, though I did like the "Are You Talking To Me?" bit. Also the plot, it was a nice idea, but the pace was uneven, sometimes it dragged, and other times when it felt rushed. It is pretty much the same with the script, which could have been so much better, had it been more focused, as far too many times it went off target, particularly with the syrupy "romance" between Karen and the prison security guy. I felt also there could have been a little more of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and less of Boris and Natasha, though I liked the enthusiasm that Jason Alexander and Rene Russo put into the roles. There are comments saying that these two were chosen because they looked the part and that's it. I personally don't think that's true, because some of the funniest bits were with these two, especially the part when the computer falls on Boris's head. Piper Perabo was good also as Karen Sympathy (most of the jokes are in the characters' names), though she has been better. I really liked the girl in the eye, that is contradictory of her adult counterpart, which causes Rocky to say "There's something in your eye". There are some very good visual jokes, though lots of them are rethreads of other films, and have been done better. I really liked Rocky and Bullwinkle- Bullwinkle was funnier, when he says "...forgot the line," and I liked the aeroplane scene. The joy were the cameos by the likes of John Goodman and Whoopi Goldberg. In conclusion, a good film, but could have been much better, with better casting and more inspiration. 7.6/10