Looney Tunes: Back in Action
My original intention in watching Joe Dante’s “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” was to catch up with a Looney Tunes movie I hadn’t seen. The creations out of Termite Terrace have had a rough go of it the past few years under the current leadership of Warner Bros. Discovery, with films either sold off (“The Day the Earth Blew Up”) or potentially shelved (“Coyote vs. ACME,” which was just sold to the same company that released “Day the Earth Blew Up”), and the iconic short films not available on streaming platforms, making their various DVD releases more important to hold on to than ever. The more I began to think about it, though, the more sense it made to review it now as opposed to later.
I certainly was exposed to Disney films over the years, but my mom was much more about Looney Tunes. It makes sense, as the antics of Bugs, Daffy, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig and everyone else feels a piece with the anarchic spirit of the screwball comedies, Mel Brooks and “Airplane!” that she gravitated to more often than not. One of the things I made sure we watched during the occasional visits to see her on Sundays was some of those classic short films. Her favorite characters were Marvin the Martian and his dog, K-9, so naturally those shorts were essential to watch, and indeed- when I went to be with her body the night she passed away- I watched “Duck Dodgers” and other shorts while I was there; I was going to break them out for her the next day anyway.
Dante’s “Back in Action” put a smile on my face from the outset, and it didn’t really leave until the film was over. Working from a screenplay by Larry Doyle, the “Gremlins’s” director is about as perfect a marriage for these characters as any live-action filmmaker could be. He understands what we want to see out of these characters in their time on-screen, and also understands that brevity is the soul of wit. He brings them in, gets a set piece out of them, and keeps the story moving forward. It really helps when he’s got live-action actors whom are on the same wavelength as he is.
This, “Blast From the Past” and “George of the Jungle” show just how much Hollywood did Brendan Fraser dirty by just abandoning him as an actor until his Oscar win for “The Whale.” Yes, I know “The Mummy” exists- and if that’s your thing, I’m happy for you- but these three movies show his comedic gifts when present with surreal, cartoonish worlds. As DJ Drake, he is a WB security guard who wants to be a stunt man on his own terms, not those of his father, renowned studio star Damien Drake (played with maximum ham by Timothy Dalton). He’s going to get an unexpected chance to be an action hero, however, when he takes in Daffy Duck after he’s been fired by the studio in favor of Bugs Bunny by head of comedy, Kate (Jenna Elfman), and the two find themselves after the Blue Monkey diamond before Mr. Chairman (the incredibly silly Steve Martin), the head of ACME, finds it for his latest hairbrain scheme.
The driving force of “Back in Action” is how Bugs and Daffy play off of one another, and how the actors respond to their energy, and boy does everyone understand the assignment in this film. Fraser and Elfman give us just enough charisma to care about their roles in the film, while actors like Martin, Dalton, Heather Locklear, and Joan Cusack know their roles in support. The Looney Tunes are the main supporting actors, and the set pieces with Marvin, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Coyote and Roadrunner, Sylvester and Tweety Bird and everyone else are comedic gold. Dante was absolutely the only choice for this movie, and seeing him fire on all cylinders like he did the “Gremlins” movies is a thing of beauty. Add to that Jerry Goldsmith’s final score, which is a gem, and this movie just made me feel happy.
See, Warner Bros. Discover? Looney Tunes endures when you put care into it.
