I heard from someone recently that this has been hailed as the first fully-animated Looney Tunes feature film and I was ready to dispute that claim. Then I realised that the beloved features I was thinking of, films I watched repeatedly throughout my childhood, were actually the compendiums that simply stitched a number of their memorable cartoons together. So, yeah, The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is the first fully-animated Looney Tunes movies. Which perhaps explains why I wanted it to be so much better.
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (both voiced here by Eric Bauza) have been brought up together by the kindly Father Jim (Fred Tatasciore). Sadly, Farmer Jim passes away in some of the earliest scenes in the movie, leaving Daffy and Porky to look after their home. That becomes tricky when their roof is damaged by a UFO. Trying a variety of jobs to raise money for the repair, it soon becomes obvious that Daffy is a bit more of a liability than Porky, but it's the former who stumbles upon an alien plan to control the human race via bubblegum. Daffy and Porky end up working with Petunia Pig (Candi Milo) on a plan to save the planet. But are they the ones we really want to trust with the fate of the world?
Written by about a dozen people, including director Peter Browngardt, this is a fun riff on many classic sci-fi movies from the 1950s. Eagle-eyed fans will be kept busy looking out for all of the references and homages (there's even an unexpectedly brilliant use of imagery many will recognise from John Carpenter's The Thing). Unfortunately, as much fun as that is, the sci-fi element doesn't make up for the fact that this is slightly lacking in the Looney Tuney department. Daffy Duck and Porky Pig are iconic enough, but the lack of other familiar faces is hugely disappointing. Would it have taken too much brainstorming to make use of Pepé Le Pew's particular . . . ability? Have Tweety Pie and Sylvester teaming up to explore dangerous territory? There's not even a Duck Dodgers or Marvin The Martian moment, and that doesn't sit right with me.
The animation style is pleasant and lively, as you'd expect for a Looney Tunes adventure, and there are enough gags thrown around that enough of them land in between the many that don't work quite as well, but there's something missing here. There's no outright anarchy, which was always one of the best things associated with Looney Tunes. Okay, there's one moment, the best moment in the entire film, that feels full-on anarchic. That's it though. One drop of water in an arid desert.
Bauza does well with his voice roles (and let's not understate how essential that is) , as does Milo, and Peter MacNicol is a great choice to provide the voice of The Invader. The entire voice cast are quite flawless, as is all of the foley work and the score. I wish they'd all been in a much better movie.
I've already heard a lot of praise for this, and I'm happy that other people have enjoyed it a bit more than I did. I enjoyed it as a bit of animated fun, don't get me wrong, but I didn't once feel that it came close to fully embracing the potential of the Looney Tunes "looney-verse".
6/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment