Cool World (2003, DVD)

Once upon a time, there was a movie/cartoon hybrid called "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that made a ton of money. Sadly, that success spelled disaster for Ralph Bakshi and the movie that eventually became "Cool World."

In its present form, "Cool World" is about cartoonist Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne), who draws the cartoon from while the film gets its title, unaware that "Cool World" is actually a real place that he will soon be visiting.

In the cartoon world, a temptress named Holli Would (Kim Basinger, in a tediously bad-acted role) is trolling for a human (or noid, in Cool World parlance) to have sex with, which will make her "real."

But cross-world sex is dangerous; it poses a threat to both worlds. Thus, you'll find Brad Pitt in one of his earliest roles (and one he'd probably love to forget) as chronically blue-balled Frank Harris. Frank's mom was killed in a motorcycle accident in the 1940s, and he was transported to Cool World. He lives there as the resident noid, and a police officer, making sure that there is no hanky panky between doodles (cartoons) and humans. He has a cartoon girlfriend, but of course their relationship can never be consumated (hence my comment about blue balls).

Jack, a former con, ends up in "Cool World," a place not quite as likeable as Toontown since there are no recognizable characters. Roger's world was more palatable because there were lots of familiar cartoon faces. That's not present in this film, since the animated world is based strictly on the world of Jack's cartoons. Holli recognizes Jack as a sucker and immediately sets out to seduce him.

Predictably, Holli and Jack get bi-zay, and all sorts of mayhem ensues as the line between the two worlds goes awry. All in all, a dull and uninspired plot.

Sadly, it is nowhere near Bakshi's original vision, a tale of a cartoonist who has sex with one of his creations, resulting in a half-breed baby that can move with ease between both of the worlds. His project had the go-ahead, but sadly, the studio was so dazzled with Roger Rabbit's success that it insisted on a clone (well, sort of a clone..."Cool World" starts off in the 40s and includes a human cop in a cartoon world, but that's where its shared DNA ends).

The blend of cartoon and live action is passable, but nothing too impressive. The acting is over the top, especially Kim Basinger's portrayal of Holli. It was so bad that I actually felt embarrassed for her...picture a really bad high school play. If you get too bored with the movie, you can amuse yourself by counting the number of times she utters her catch phrase, "Pencil dick."

Apparently the writers took another page from Disney's book (WARNING: PLOT SPOILER FOLLOWS). They used the old "Let's make it look like the hero is dead and then bring him back to life" routine. The only good part about that is that the newly-reborn-as-a-cartoon Brad Pitt finally gets to boff his inky girlfriend.

This movie has sunk into well-deserved obscurity. I wouldn't even recommend buying it on the bargain DVD rack; if you must see the train wreck, wait until one of its occasional cable TV appearances.