Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003Warner Bros.film that combines live-action and animation to tell the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake (played by Brendan Fraser), who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father (played by Timothy Dalton). In his globe-trotting adventure, he is aided (and confounded) by his animated Hollywood friends, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as well as the studio executive who fired him (played by Jenna Elfman). Written by Larry Doyle and directed by Joe Dante, this film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical of the genre.
Daffy Duck, tired of playing "stooge" to the "long-eared, carrot-chomping, overbite challenged rabbit" or in other words, Bugs Bunny, gets rather jealous of Bugs in a meeting with the Warner Brothers, and demands that he get better recognition. Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman), the Vice President of Comedy, reveals to a heartbroken Daffy that Bugs is much more popular than Daffy, saying that while Bugs enjoys universal appeal, the duck's fan base is limited to "angry fat guys in basements." After Daffy discovers he has been fired, he is escorted out of the board room by Kate and Bugs.
Meanwhile, DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser), a security guard, fails an audition for a stuntman job. He is then asked to escort a distraught Daffy Duck off the lot, but this results in the destruction of the studio's water tower. DJ himself is then fired in a scene inspired by the 1960s TV series Branded.
Bugs Bunny and Jenna Elfman discuss Bugs' career in a scene from the film.
Some of the other cartoon characters are struggling in stardom, especially Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzales. Scooby Doo and Shaggy (both are appropriately voiced by Frank Welker and Casey Kasem) consult Matthew Lillard who portrayed Shaggy in the live-action Scooby Doo movie. Kate tries to change Bugs' famous gags by teaming him up with a female co-star. Bugs counters this with his famous crossdressing gag.
DJ returns to his home, next door to Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety Bird, and finds Daffy has hitched a ride, as he has nowhere else to go. Daffy learns DJ is Damian Drake's son. Daffy believes Damian is a spy, while DJ thinks he is merely an actor who portrays a spy. When it's learned both are right, and Damian is in trouble over the Blue Monkey diamond, DJ heads off. His only clue, the nightclub actress "Dusty Tails" in Las Vegas. All of DJ's attempts to throw Daffy out of his pizza delivery car fail, and the two set off on their adventure.
About this time, it's learned DJ has played Brendan Fraser's stunt double many times and he considers Brendan to be very unpleasant.
It turns out that the Warner Bros. weren't that serious about firing Daffy and they want him back or Kate is fired. Bugs' phone call to Daffy is rebuked.
Unknown to Daffy and DJ, their conversation is being watched by the board of directors of the ACME Corporation. The eccentric yet intimidating Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin), who wants the Blue Monkey for himself.
Daffy Duck and Brendan Fraser in Las Vegas, in a scene from the film.
Kate goes to DJ's house and finds Bugs, and also discovers DJ is Damian Drake's son. They head out in Damian's true spy car, (a TVR Tuscan).
DJ and Daffy arrive at Las Vegas and enter the Wooden Nickel casino owned by the midget cowboy, Yosemite Sam, who is an operative of ACME. Mr. Chairman informs Yosemite Sam to keep the two heroes within the casino. Mr. Smith (Bill Goldberg), Mr. Chairman's hitman offers Sam a treasure chest (which he uses to clobber Sam with). Foghorn Leghorn introduces the casino's next act, which is Dusty Tails, played by Heather Locklear. DJ gets to Dusty and she reveals she is a spy like Damian. She gives DJ a Queen of Diamonds playing card. Daffy explains to Dusty he doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear"...until Yosemite Sam and his underlings, Nasty Canasta and Cottontail Smith appear with a cannon, which he says the meaning of fear usually found in a dictionary ("Fear, noun, a state of terror!). Daffy gets blasted into a fire extinguisher.
The two attempt to fight their way through, but things stop when the card is lost on the gambling floor. DJ manages to recover it. DJ's car falls to pieces when the two leap in.
Yosemite Sam and his cronies commandeer Jeff Gordon's racecar and chase Daffy and DJ. They Kate and Bugs, and drive off in the spy car with the cowboys not far behind. Accidental discovery of the flying mode leaves the villains well behind. A lack of gas causes the car to crash into the middle of Death Valley. Later at a campout, Daffy expresses his sorrow to Bugs with the statement: "All you have to do is nibble on a carrot and everyone loves ya."
The next day, the heroes come across a Wal-Mart store in the middle of the desert (which is assumed to be a mirage) and get free stuff in exchange for endoursement of Wal-Mart. Mr. Chairman's father, another VP, suggests they get the "Desert Operative", i.e. Wile E. Coyote to deal with the heroes. His attempt typically fails.
The heroes stumble across Area 52, the real secret military base where the aliens are stored. The base's leading researcher, known as Mother (Joan Cusack) has been expecting DJ and reveals to him that the Blue Monkey is a powerful gem that can be used to turn the human race into monkeys. Marvin the Martian who is imprisoned within Area 52, is ordered to attack the heroes. Using other aliens, including daleks, he causes a mass riot, which the heroes escape.
Pepé Le Pew makes a walk-on cameo opposite Brendan Fraser during the film's Paris scenes.
They realize that a picture of the Mona Lisa is on the playing card and head to the Louvre in Paris. DJ manages to find a map of Africa. Elmer Fudd appears wanting the window and he reveals he is secretly evil. Bugs and Daffy flee from Elmer throughout the museum, leaping into several paintings like The Scream. Kate is kidnapped by Mr. Smith and taken to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Beaky Buzzard flies overhead in a helicopter. Mr. Smith escapes with a photographed copy of the map. Bugs and Daffy defeat Elmer by running into another painting that results in Elmer coming out in a pointillism effect. Bugs blows him to pieces using a fan. Kate falls off the side of the Eiffel Tower but is saved by DJ.
ACME prepares to head to Africa. Mr. Chairman decides to unleash his most vicious operative: Taz. The VP for Never Learning criticizes Taz, and the Chairman releases Taz upon the VP, transforming him into a skeleton.
In Africa, DJ, Kate, Bugs and Daffy run into Granny, Sylvester and Tweety riding an elephant through the jungle. They hitch a ride and discover some ancient ruins and the Blue Monkey itself., Granny, Sylvester and Tweety upzip bodysuits to reveal themselves as Mr. Chairman (the film's second example of crossdressing), Mr. Smith and Taz in disguise. All but Taz and Mr. Smith are teleported back to the ACME building.
Duck Dodgers as seen in Looney Tunes: Back in Action
DJ and Kate are chained up and find Damian on a railway track about to be run over by the Train of Death driven by Wile E. Coyote. They are also attacked by a giant ACME Guard Dog. Bugs and Daffy head into space after Marvin the Martian to a satellite where the Blue Monkey will transmit a monkey-transforming beam around the globe. Bugs meets Marvin and says "What's up, Darth" (A Starwars parody), and battles Marvin with a lightsaber while reading "The Force For Dummies". Daffy becomes Duck Dodgers and saves the day by deflecting the satellite. DJ saves Damian, outwits the giant dog, and wrecks the Train of Death. Marvin is trapped in a bubble and floats off into space. Mr. Chairman now a monkey, is arrested with a little pair of monkey sized handcuffs.
Bugs and Daffy talk about the adventure while it's revealed the whole thing is just a movie. DJ punches out Brendan Fraser. Bugs then reveals that he has decided to let Daffy be his equal partner. Daffy decides his luck may be changing. But just not yet, as he ends up smooshed by a falling round metal plate which is revealed to be the symbol of the Looney Tunes. Porky Pig fails to perform his ending spiel and he instead tells the audience to go home.
Brendan Fraser did such a good job doing an impersonation of Taz that he was allowed to do the voice.
During filming, Brendan Fraser was completely terrified at having to hit Bill Goldberg; Goldberg constantly told him to go ahead and do it, telling him, "It's what I do for a living."
Notably, the film was Jerry Goldsmith's last as composer. Due to Goldsmith's failing health, the last reel of the film was actually scored by John Debney, though Goldsmith was the only credited composer. John Debney got a small credit at the end as "Additional music by".
This film started out as a follow-up to Space Jam (1996). It was going to be called Spy Jam, and was going to star Jackie Chan.
The character animation in this film was traditionally hand-drawn. Computer technology was used to color the animation drawings in, add tone mattes and shadows to the characters, and composite them over the live-action backgrounds. 3D Computer animation is used on objects such as the spaceships, Wile E. Coyote's missile, the robot guard dog at the end, and Bugs' carrots in the Cafeteria.
Film directorJoe Dante nicknamed this project, the Anti-Space Jam movie, showing his hate for how Space Jam ruined the characters' personalities.
Reception
Grossing around US$21 million (US$68 million worldwide), it was a considerably large bomb, partially due to stiff competition from Elf and The Cat in the Hat, but earned relatively positive reviews from critics, including those that gave Space Jam bad reviews. Because of its poor box-office results, Warner Bros. is having second thoughts about the current popularity of the Looney Tunes, and since the release of the film has attempted to move the spotlight more onto Daffy Duck than Bugs Bunny, as shown with the recent releases of the Duck Dodgers animated series (which doesn't feature Bugs Bunny at all), and Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, which casts Bugs in a very minor role.
This article contains a trivia section. Content in this section should be integrated into peoples pants like a nooblet other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
When Kate and Bugs are talking in the cafe, Kate is suddenly distracted, and Bugs can be heard in the background imitating Daffy. Bugs can be heard imitating Daffy's original Clampett Era "Hoo-Hoo" laugh (In the movie Daffy is portrayed via his radically different, but more well known Jones Era personality). The only other time Daffy's signature laugh is heard is when, running away from DJ, Daffy briefly utters it (however, it is light and in the background).
When Daffy sits down with DJ to watch his father on the picture and finds out he's a spy, he is drinking Jolt, and early energy drink-like soda.
Daffy Duck, Jenna Elfman, Brendan Fraser, and Bugs Bunny in Paris.
One of the most entertaining features for adults is the plethora of cultural references in Back in Action. A considerable number of classic movies are referenced in quick throwaway scenes, many famous works of art are shown out of their normal context, and many other primarily American cultural jokes appear in the course of DJ Drake and his cartoon associates' adventures.
Cinematic references
In a nod to WB arch-competitor Disney and their current rival Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003), after a water tower floods the studio lot, Bugs, fishing in a boat in back of Kate's Alfa Romeo, declares, "Hey, whadda ya know? I found Nemo!", at which a small orange fish pops out of the water on his line.
There are also many live-action television and movie references. Some run throughout the film, but most are only brief scenes which merely show the characters, challenging the viewer to recall where they've seen that familiar face. An incomplete list of such amusing references, in rough order of appearance, includes:
Batman and the Batmobile from the film version of Batman (1989).
Bugs Bunny's black-and-white shower scene evoking the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho (1960), down to the dozens of odd angles and close-up shots, and using cartoon-appropriate chocolate syrup for fake blood. (Alfred Hitchcock reportedly used chocolate syrup for the blood in the original scene, presumably because the combination of color-tone and consistency worked well in a black-and-white film.) When Bugs starts screaming in Kate's face many times in that same scene, he's obviously referring to what happened to Joseph Frost after he got mauled by Cerberuses in the live-action intro to Resident Evil: Director's Cut.
Dusty Tails (Heather Locklear), after a Britney Spears-style performance, zips up in leather like Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) from TV spy show Alias. "I also work for the Agency. Professional assassin."
The gorilla wearing a diving helmet who utters, "There is no escape!", is right out of B-movieRobot Monster (1953), down to the flashing video negative effect.
The insect humanoid with the large exposed brain is from sci-fi classic This Island Earth (1955).
The curious pink brain-like creature with two eyestalks, tentacles, and a snakelike body is from Fiend Without a Face (1958).
Kevin McCarthy reprises his role as Dr. Miles Bennell from the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), even appearing in black-and-white and carrying a pod creature. He repeats his plaintive warning from the end of that movie: "They're already here! You're next! You're next!"
A sly reference to another B-movie, The Eye Creatures (1965), features an uncredited Peter Graves as a Civil Defense narrator for the Blue Monkey video briefing, similar to his uncredited flying-saucer film briefing narration in the 1965 movie.
The weapons cabinet which suddenly pops into place evokes a similar scene from The Matrix (1999).
The conical robots yelling "Exterminate them!" are Daleks from films based on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who (distinguishable from the TV versions by the "vapor spray" weapon). It was at the insistence of Steve Martin that Daleks be used in that scene.
In the scene of Area 52, where Mother is showing them around the facility, you can see Pinky and The Brain working as researchers as the faculty.
The dancing owlette singing "I Love to Singa", a la Al Jolson, refers to an early "classic" Looney Tunes color short, unsurprisingly called I Love to Singa.
The Jerry Lewis poster at the Eiffel base which reads "OÙ TROUVEZ-VOUS LA GUERRE?" ("Where do you find the war?") comes from Which Way to the Front? (1970). The movie poster displaying Lewis open-mouthed in German officer attire is authentic.
The Blue Monkey diamond at the heart of the film's plot is most likely a reference to the Pink Panther diamond at the heart of the plot of the eponymous film, especially since a successful animated character developed from the concept. Steve Martin would go on to star in the 2006 remake
When the Gremlin car is first revealed the soundtrack reprises the first few notes of the theme from Gremlins (1984).
The cartoon ACME aide who looks and sounds like Guillermo Ugarte (Peter Lorre) from Casablanca (1942) is a variation on Warner Bros.' frequent allusions to Lorre's memorable character.
When multicolored Tweety birds attack Sylvester, the original Tweety, dressed in colorful African garb, yells, "Cwy fweedom!", an obvious reference to the film Cry Freedom (1987).
In the monkey village scene, the booby-trapped "Barrel of Monkeys", the darts, and the rock that creates a "pressed duck" all pay homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
The ACME chairman's third disguise in the monkey village scene is basketball star Michael Jordan, who also played with the Warner Bros. cartoon cast in Space Jam (1996) (Although Daffy didn't understand that part, claiming "This doesn't make a lick of sense.").
In a possible allusion to the final act of Flash Gordon (1980), Bugs and Daffy crash through the windows of the ACME tower with their stolen spaceship.
The ACME Train of Death exploding seems to be a reference to another Warner Bros. film, The Fugitive (1993), as well as another explosive animated train wreck, in Don Bluth's Anastasia (1997).
A possible reference is after Damien Drake throws a grenade, the guard lets out the Wilhelm Scream.
There are also a number of Star Wars saga riffs throughout Back in Action:
Bugs makes a double reference to the film series as he absentmindedly battles Marvin with a lightsaber while reading The Force for Dummies (which also alludes to the famous "For Dummies" series of instruction books).
In the monkey village, when the ACME chairman pulls off his second costume and shows himself as Damien, he says, "Look into your heart. You know it's true." DJ Drake replies, "No, it can't be true." This recalls similar dialog between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
When Marvin finally spins off into space after accidentally "bubbling" himself, he says, "Darn Dark Side!". This is reminiscent of Darth Vader's tumbling departure from the Death Star in the original Star Wars (1977).
In the scene where Daffy Duck and DJ Drake are making their way to Las Vegas, DJ tries to convince Daffy that he is not a full time security guard as believed and tries to make himself sound good by claiming that he is a stuntman. While Daffy laughs, DJ tries to sell this as fact and says "Have you seen them Mummy movies? I'm in there more than Brendan Fraser is. This is a reference to The Mummy, and The Mummy Returns in which Fraser stars. Plus Brendan Fraser plays DJ in the Movie.
Art references
In the scene at the Louvre, where Elmer Fudd maniacally pursues Bugs and Daffy into and out of paintings, many famous works of art are abused in classic zany cartoon style. A partial list of those works include:
In the "Batman" stunt scene, Roger Corman, prolific B-movie director, essentially appears as himself.
The secret government facility, "Area 52", pokes fun at the mysterious "Area 51" facility on the Nellis Air Force Range, unacknowledged by the U. S. government, where the military is rumored to hold evidence of extraterrestrials.
The alien tickling scene recalls Ray Santilli's infamous "Alien Autopsy" videotape, still a popular subject of ufologists despite its lack of credibility.
During the chase in Yosemite Sam's casino, the participants run across some dogs playing poker, much like in Looks Like Four of a Kind by C. M. Coolidge, an oil painting better known as "Dogs Playing Poker".
Jeff Gordon appears as an unnamed race car owner, driving his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo. A DuPont Chevrolet was painted with a Looney Tunes paint scheme in promotion of the movie for Gordon to drive in the 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400; however, in final practice, Gordon crashed the Looney Tunes car, and the backup car only had the regular paint scheme. Special movie decals added to the regular DuPont "flame" design in 2003 for a Gordon car to promote the movie.
The scene with a Wal-Mart store in the middle of the desert mocks not only Wal-Mart's ubiquity, but also general commercial product placement in films. The heroes hold a conversation peppered with Wal-Mart slogans and product names.
The ACME laptop that Wile E. Coyote uses to order his missile system has a browser that looks suspiciously like Microsoft's Internet Explorer (a rival of Time Warner's Netscape). The website he orders it from blares an offer for free gift-wrapping that looks very much like Amazon.com's system.
Among the secret Area 52 VHS videotapes locked up inside Robby the Robot are "THE BLUE MONKEY", "MOON LANDING DRESS REHEARSAL" (alluding to the rumored faking of the Apollo moon landings), "HOW SAUSAGE IS MADE" (a humorous riff on the common expectation that people might not want to eat this popular food if they observed its preparation), and "CONGRESSMEN GONE WILD VOL. 6" (the "WILD VOL." is mainly a guess as the title is partly obscured, in probable reference to the softcore erotic Girls Gone Wild series).
In the opening shots of Paris, two nuns can be seen walking alongside several pairs of girls in blue dresses. This is a direct reference to the Madeline series of books by Ludwig Bemelmans.
In one scene, DJ Drake fights with Yosemite Sam's goons, and Daffy tells him to "bite his ear!" This is a reference to boxer Mike Tyson, who bit off a portion of Evander Holyfield's ear during a boxing match.
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