The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)

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

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HouseSitter (1992)

The movie that reunited director Frank Oz with star Steve Martin may not be as great as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but that's a tough act to follow. This isn't as sharp, it's not as smart and it's just not as funny. However, I've always found HouseSitter to be an easy movie to rewatch and enjoy. It's not without charm and there are a lot of decent one-liners sprinkled throughout the script. The biggest problem is the fact that more time is given over to other people when Martin is the best asset that the film has, a problem that would crop up more and more in the years after this film.

Martin plays Newton Davis, a man who we first see presenting a house that he's just built to his girlfriend (Becky, played by Dana Delany) and then proposing to her. It doesn't go as he'd hoped. Jump forward by some time and viewers get to see Newton plodding away at his day job, as an architect, before getting a bit too drunk one evening and having a one night stand with Gwen (Goldie Hawn). It turns out that Gwen has some issues with telling the truth. When she wakes up, alone, the next morning she remembers all that Newton said about the house he built that is now standing empty in the middle of a small, welcoming community. So she goes there, moves in and soon blurts out to the locals that she is Newton's wife. By the time Newton finds out about this whopper of a lie his parents (Donald Moffat and Julie Harris) have already warmed to Gwen, Becky is obviously regretting letting him go and the whole mess looks as if it could work out for the best, as long as the web of fiction holds together long enough.

The script and direction may both be relatively safe, but that doesn't mean that it's stale. I'm sure that some people will turn on this movie and be scrambling for the remote control within ten minutes, but I am won over as soon as the opening credits roll and I know that I'm about to spend just over 90 minutes in pleasant company.

Hawn isn't the best partner that Martin has starred alongside, but she does okay and her character is a fun one (though the movie often shies away from the obvious major, psychological problems that she has). Martin is in uptight, slightly frantic mode and reacts well to every new development that puts him on the back foot. Yet, as well as the obvious humour stemming from their situation, there is also a nice development of the relationship between the two leads, often showing their fake marriage as being not entirely dissimilar to any real one.
Delany is pretty good as the old flame who, of course, complicates the whole situation, and Moffat and Harris are both delightful as loving parents who take the news of the marriage surprisingly well, eventually.
Richard B. Shull and Laurel Cronin add to the fun during an almost farcical finale, Peter MacNicol steals every scene that he's in, playing Newton's friend and a man desperate to make his way up the corporate ladder, and Roy Cooper is also very good as the big boss man who may not realise what a talented architect Newton really is.

And there's also a lovely rendition of Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374099555&sr=8-1&keywords=steve+martin

Ghostbusters II (1989)

When Ghostbusters II was released in 1989 it did solid business at the box office. You wouldn't think that nowadays, with the way many people deride it and claim that it's a completely unworthy sequel to the classic first movie. Well, the first movie is a classic. I completely agree with that and already praised it here. What I don't agree with is the opinion that this sequel is completely unworthy. It's not as good as the first movie but few films are. It is, however, a very enjoyable film that picks up some years after the events of the first movie and allows viewers to find out just what the main characters have been up to since their big battle with Gozer.

And just what have the Ghostbusters been up to since saving New York City and, indeed, the world? Well, they were sued by a number of city and state agencies and the brand became worthless. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) are trying to keep the Ghostbusters name out there by entertaining ungrateful children at birthday parties, Egon (Harold Ramis) is conducting scientific studies with his usual, detached demeanour and Venkman (Bill Murray) is hosting a paranormal chat show. Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) has a son and is enjoying the time that she spends helping to restore paintings under the watchful eye of Dr. Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol). There's one painting in particular, of a nasty man called Vigo (Wilhelm Von Homburg) that starts to cause no small amount of trouble and so the gang need to get back together and get back to doing what they do best.

The baddie may not be as memorable this time around and there's no denying that the movie doesn't feel as fresh as the first film (but sequels rarely do, by definition) but there's a hell of a lot here to enjoy and anyone dismissing this movie completely is, I'd say, being very harsh.

Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis and Hudson are all still great in their ghostbusting roles, Weaver plays off them all very well once again and Annie Potts and Rick Moranis return to reprise their memorable characters. Peter MacNicol is also good fun and Wilhelm Von Homburg keeps his mean face on throughout. Kurt Fuller may not be able to replace the great William Atherton as the main jerk of the movie but he tries his best. David Margulies returns to play the Mayor of New York and Harris Yulin has a small, fun role as a very strict judge who ends up seeing the Ghostbusters on trial in his court.

With Aykroyd and Ramis also returning to their writing duties and Ivan Reitman once again directing the action, this is very much the kind of sequel that feels like audiences are getting to catch up with some old friends. Because that's exactly what it is. I will watch Ghostbusters any number of times and never tire of it but this second outing is almost as rewatchable and has a smattering of great lines in almost every scene. The ending is a bit of a letdown but I think that any ending would have been slightly underwhelming compared to the brilliance of that big finale of the first movie featuring Gozer and The Traveller.

Oh, okay, there's also a pretty lame soundtrack compared to the complete '80s greatness of the first movie but that's the only other major complaint I have.

If you haven't seen it in a while then do give it a go and you might just find that the Ghostbusters are still the guys to call when you want some ectoplasmic entertainment.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghostbusters-2-DVD-Bill-Murray/dp/B001G61178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351446146&sr=8-1