The press release about the star of "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" gives
Bugs (as I call him, being an old friend) his due.  Here's the classy
hype for this Warner Bros.  action thriller, due in theaters next week,
to compete with "Matrix 3" -

"Mr. Bunny's distinguished career began with starring roles in the
wildly popular Warner Bros.  cartoon shorts, including an Oscar-winning
turn in `Knightly Knight Bugs No. 1'.  The 1957 Wagnerian-inspired short
`What's Opera, Doc?,' in which he played the majestically tragic role
of Brunnhilde, was chosen in 1992 by the Library of Congress' National
Film Preservation Board as one of 25 `culturally, historically or
aesthetically significant films' to be added to the National Film
Registry."

And yet, withal, this great cultural icon is represented now quite
without a modicum of gestalt.

If next week you happen to see the newly released "Love Actually" and
Bugs' new opus (and I am not saying you shouldn't), you may discover a
theme common to the two movies that otherwise have nothing to do with
each other.

Both have brilliant bits, great promise...  and a disappointing lack of
whatever it is that makes a whole work.  There may just be a Pattern
discernible here or, even, a Trend.

"Love Actually" brings together a stellar cast - Emma Thompson, Laura
Linney, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, and Billy
Nighy, who steals the show - but Richard Curtis manages to turn it into
a sappy, disjointed series of sitcom miniatures.

"Looney Tunes Redux" has so much going for it that the result should be
the movie of the year (considering the year it has been, if it didn't
include "Lost in Translation"), but "Gremlins"/"Twilight Zone: the Movie"
hack Joe Dante manages to turn gold into lead.

The greatest asset of the mismanaged project is one half of "Simpsons"
writer/producer Larry Doyle.  He is responsible for the screenplay, which
sizzles; he is the executive producer, which makes him a co-culprit with
Dante.

The ideas are great, very much "Simpsons" grade.  "Warner Bros." turn
up as two elderly, none-too-bright twins.  A Wal-Mart store shows up in
the Nevada desert for no reason other than - as explained by Bugs - to
serve as "subtle product-placement."

In the live-action/animated mix (sabotaged by Jenna Elfman, who doesn't
fit into either world), there are some wondrous scenes, such as a romp
through the Louvre, to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," the
characters jumping in and out of the paintings, conforming instantly to
the various periods and styles; there is a concise explanation of Seurat's
pointilism, with an arch aside that "movies should educate, not just
entertain."

The cast is right up there with that of "Love Actually" - Bugs himself,
cool and bushy-tailed as ever; Daffy Duck, with maturity and attention
span that bring to mind the current Commander-in-Chief ("bring it on!
bring it on!!"); Porky Pig, whose non-PC stutter is gone, along with his
career; the Tasmanian Devil, Road Runner, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, and
many of our old friends, untouched by age.

Less real (although far more acceptable than Elfman, who botches a
great role - the high-strung studio VP, getting rid of Daffy, unwilling
"to leverage his synergy") are the humans: Brendan Fraser, sleepwalking
through the role of a studio security guard with stuntman ambitions;
Timothy Dalton, as the spy, who plays spies onscreen as a cover; Steve
Martin, in an incomprehensible and unsuccessful Jerry Lewis impersonation;
Heather Locklear and Joan Cusack in throwaway roles.

"Looney Tunes" and "Love Actually" both could succeed on the strength
of two-minute segments, if only there was a structure around them to
save those really good bits from the dull and tiresome in-between.
The music, among the good things in the film, is by Jerry Goldsmith.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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