Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cool World



MarzGurl and Linkara review the horror that is Cool World.


31 comments:

Unknown said...

This brings back bad memories. As already said by the NC: "Big lipped aligator moment". Smashing review dude!

fupu said...

I had to stop and collect myself at the phrase "dead mom / girlfriend". I heard this film was bad, but had no idea it reached Greek tragedy levels of squick. ;)

Mitch said...

Wow you had a lot of cameos in Chicago, and all of them in great videos. I get the feeling the movie made sense more than the two of you let on, but there's no doubt it's terrible. And good on Marzgirl for not laughing when she said 'I finally got male doodle'.

Information Geek said...

Ah yes, I remember watching it a while go for a review I did. The movie was awful, but love the animation, the voice acting, and the kick ass sountrack. Everything else sucked. The living acting, the plot, the script, and everything else in between.

Good review you guys.

Rhomega said...

Wow...what the heck did I just watch?

Anonymous said...

Poor Ralph Bakshi. He's an extremely talented animator who's worked on some very terrible things. I'd blame the bad story, animation, and, er...everything on the fact that this film had a horrible time getting made. Everyone had different opinions and in the end, it's a jumbled mess.

But, the guy made Fritz the Cat and the 1980s Mighty Mouse series so I still admire him.

Anonymous said...

Going crazy and acting insane is some thing you guys do exceptionally well i might add!

The Trembler said...

Very well done on a very bad film.

I never saw the beginning of this. I saw the last half on so on TV once.

What I always wondered was why didn't Brad Pitt's character just have one of the cartoon characters kill him years ago? (Painlessly, of course) Then he could have have a romantic relationship with his girlfriend.

Was the cartoonist really supposed to have created the world even though the cartoons existed back in the 1940s?

I just checked out its wikipedia entry, and it turns out that Bakshi originally wanted to make a horror film about a man who fathers a. . . Half cartoon child, who then gets revenge on him because she considers herself a freak.

Bonkers, but I suppose it potentially could have worked. A producer rewrote it into this in the middle of production.

I actually think a story focusing on the Pitt character could have worked with a lot more effort and a different plot. (In fact, it did in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) But I still saw some highly unrealized potential in that character and his situation. I suppose they could've done the Gabriel Byrne character's story well, too, but I was less interested in seeing them even try.

I know you two mentioned the insanity of the end, but I was surprised you didn't just show the last ten seconds of the film. I still remember that as one of the worst endings I've ever seen. Cartoonist as superhero talking about where he an Holli wold live n a comic strip while she thinks he's an idiot. . . Which he pretty much is. But he's oblivious. And that's it. For bizarre sudden endings its like No Country for Old Men without the quality.

Will Staples said...

Yeeeeesh. That was uncomfortable.

Cervus said...

*twitch, twitch, twitch*

Incredibly bad animation, constant Big Lipped Alligator Moments, nonsensical plot, animated characters you want to shoot with a super soaker full of Dip, and an Ass Pull for the ending.

Judge Doom can run his freeway right through that city. And welcome to it.

Bev said...

I tried to do a written recap of this movie a while back.

...I never made it past the fifteen minute mark. You did a much better job than I could have, anyway. Awesome video.

Queen Anthai said...

Man, you need a Medal of Valor or something.

SAD CONFESSION TIME: I owned the comic book adaptation. I don't know why either.

Zerry said...

Being a mostly fearless Internet adventurer, I've come across a lot of weird shit. One such example of weird shittery are men (probably very, very lonely men) who hold Holli as some sort of pinnacle of cartoon sex appeal. That's right, there are guys out there who actually think this one-dimensional inked bimbo is worthy wank fodder. Apparently Jessica Rabbit's caricatured design and tongue-in-cheek satire reminds them what fools they are.

Anyway, another great tag-team effort resulting in another great vid. Bravo, guys.

The House of C.R.P said...

I just realized that you may have taken a bullet for the Nostalgia Critic. Since you reviewed this, he won't have to review this load.

PontifexPrimus said...

Oh man, that brings back memories... Kim Basinger (and Holly Would, if you're into that sort of thing) were the only watchable things in this trainwreck.

This movie rightly deserves the thrashing you give it, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one completely stumped at some of the nonsensical plot-twists...
Oh, and what's particularly bothering is that the underlying idea could make for so many interesting and thought-provoking stories, and what they finally produced is just this steaming heap of garbage.

Great review, I have rarely seen a descent into madness portrayed so graphically. :D

Razorgeist said...

I was only watching a humorous review and I got pissed off at the movie.

greenjeans said...

What exactly is the name of that symphonic music that gets used in the skit sections? I've heard it used in hundreds of movies and TV shows, and I can't for the life of me find out what it's called.

greenjeans said...

Since Zerry brought it up:

"One such example of weird shittery are men (probably very, very lonely men) who hold Holli as some sort of pinnacle of cartoon sex appeal."

Spurred by this, I decided to look Holli up on Deviant Art. To my great amusement, she was mistaken by some site patrons for Emma Frost from the X-Men books. That speaks VOLUMES about how meaningless she was in the long run. And now that I think about it, it is pretty funny how her look is famous by virtue of being associated with a completely different character.

Aborto said...

This was not Baskshi's finest hour and his first story idea actually sounds better, this is taken from the Wikipedia article on Cool World

"The film was originally pitched as an animated horror film about an underground cartoonist, who fathers an illegitimate half-human/half-cartoon daughter, who hates herself for what she is and tries to kill him.

During production, Bakshi's original screenplay was scrapped by producer Frank Mancuso Jr. and heavily rewritten by screenwriting duo Michael Grais and Mark Victor, best known for writing Poltergeist and Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and an uncredited Larry Gross."


if you want to see some good Bakshi movies check out Coonskin, Hey Good Lookin and American Pop.

Ian S said...

Awesome, awesome work you two! Loved the setup and lead-in to the review. Loved the random cameos in the mix - those were great fun. Loved the running jokes, including "Why not!", the pillow, and the, of course, the distracting plush toys - very well handled.

Also enjoyed all the reaction shots, which I tend to dislike, where randomness became so totally nonsensical, y'all just stare in total confusion.

My only problem was Linkara's opening lines came off a bit flat when they could have been deathly serious. ... By the way, I love how, story-wise, you put the epic Insano war on hold to review Cool World : p Or, rather, to keep a friend from suffering alone. I wish we had gotten back to that, but, only cause I always would love more Linkara/Spoony.

And it's interesting to hear Cool World was planned differently beforehand. That original draft does sound potentially interesting, and there's definitely a lot of lost potential for another mature cartoon/reality movie... but we got this drivel instead. I hate how Who Framed Roger Rabbit is stuck associated to it, just for the mixed medium.

Great job! You two worked great together! Thanks for the fun!

Kate Holden said...

You and Marzgurl make a great double act! It really looked like you had a lot of fun making this.

The Trembler said...

Roger Rabbit isn't just associated fort the mixed medium alone. Both do mix the film noir/Sam Spade type gumshoe element into this cartoon meets reality stuff.

Anonymous said...

There's a rule when comes to Ralph Bakshi's cartoons.
They either rule, or they suck...

Say Linkara, how do you feel about the movie "Wizards"? I call it the most non kid-friendly PG rated animated fantasy ever.

It's about an old wizard named Avatar who forms a party of four to fight against his evil twin brother Blackwolf, who had recently dug up old artifacts of war. This fantasy world takes place in a future millions of years after a nuclear apocalypse. After the million year nuclear fallout, the remnants of mankind had evolved into two kinds of creatures. Mutants; disfigured humans whose bodies have adapted to the harsh landscape where they live to their expense, and Faeries; humans who unlocked the secrets of magic, and the power to restore the Earth to its previous beauty.

There are extreme moments of suspension of disbelief in the film(Like how does WWII Nazi footage survive a million years let alone a fallout?) But there are some funny scenes(They killed Fritz!) as well as some emotional ones(Why can't we win momma? Because they have weapons, all we have is love...)

There are also some interesting(although somewhat underdeveloped) characters.
Like this brave, noble warrior elf named Weehawk, who fights monsters like Bruce Lee in a brief scene.

And this voluptuous nympho fairy named Eleanor, who's a student of Avatar and surprisingly his gal pal.

And my favorite, Peace. An android so cool, he puts Boba Fett to shame(literally).

The best thing I love about this film is the fact that it got a PG rating, yet it has an truckload of questionable content. For one thing, there's so many death scenes in this movie, that it makes Bambi look like the happiest movie in the world. Not to mention a bit of profanity and sexual innuendo here and there.

Ralph Bakshi said he made Wizards as a "children's film that doesn't talk down to kids." No kidding.

Zelda said...

I actually did manage to watch this alone (though I regret watching it period...). It's amazing what pieces of crap people put on the big screen...

Kudos to you and Marzgurl for managing to watch it...........

Anonymous said...

You know what this movie reminds me of? MONKEYBONE!

It's another nonsensical dark movie about a cartoonist meeting and screwing around(metaphorically) with another creature of his (supposed)creation. And yes, it's the botched work of an otherwise talented animator and it makes no sense whatsoever!

Anonymous said...

greenjeans said...

What exactly is the name of that symphonic music that gets used in the skit sections? I've heard it used in hundreds of movies and TV shows, and I can't for the life of me find out what it's called.



I believe it's called the Sabre Dance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_dance

Nancy said...

I remember when this movie came out. I think they had some sort of PR stunt where Holli Would was on the Hollywood sign. Awesome review guys.

Philosophista said...

MAn, I always thougt that this movie was too crazy and you just see to... fuck.. I don't now, it's like that type of bunch of random images sometimes they show on eletronic music festivals and this stuff (I don't like...)

The fun thing about the Bradd Pitt Death and Transformation is that he became a TIM ROBBINS CARTOON!

Marcel said...

To the "Anonymous" who mentioned the movie 'Monkeybone':

I had the displeasure of seeing the movie, and mind you, I was 11 at the time. It was completely messed up and disturbed my 11-year-old self.

Needless to say, just seeing sample footage of 'Cool World' from the review reminded me of that tripe.

Unknown said...

Okay, so, very minor, kinda nitpicky and YEARS past the point where it's a relevant comment, but...

"We cut to 1992. Bill Clinton is president."

Actually, he wasn't yet. Elected in 1992. Not inaugurated until 1993.

HippyTesla said...

I loved Cool World as a kid. Had it on VHS, along with Child's Play 3 on the same tape. I watched those two movies at least 20 times each as a kid :B