It's difficult to believe that it has been over two decades since this movie The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle hit the screens. As imperfect an artifact as it is, I have always had a soft spot for it and upon watching again recently I was reminded of what I liked and what still rankles me. I wish it was full animation first and foremost, done in the handsome style of the earliest and final sections of the film before the characters are yanked "from reruns" to enter a somewhat more realistic domain. But clearly the makers here wanted something more akin to The Adventures of Roger Rabbit than a more traditional animated movie. Maybe this one came just a bit too early to fully realized as a complete animated feature, but it's a loss overall.
That said, what of the movie we do have. It's not without virtues. First is the wonderful animation I've already alluded to, but also if there must be real live people playing the likes of Fearless Leader, Boris Badanov, and Natasha Fatale, then the trio of Robert DeNiro, Jason Alexander and Rene Russo ain't a bad trio to do the job. DeNiro in particular I thought jumped into the part and at times Alexander got the Boris voice down perfect. But as good as they were, they were only analogs of the real animated characters, and limited in that way. There tons of cameos in this movie by the likes of long-standing stars such as Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, and the late great Jonathan Winters, but by and large aside from a quick laugh they don't add up too much. The Keenan and Kel side plot is there for the youth of the day who sought out the flick and that brings up my big complaint.
The biggest deficiency of this movie is not the dated animation (not what the show was ever about) nor really the inclusion of the real world (as much as I don't prefer that) but the fact it's not really about Rocky and Bullwinkle despite the title. We are introduced to Agent Sympathy of the FBI (played by the exceedingly cute Piper Perabo) and as it turns out the movie is really about her. She's the one given the mission of which Rocky and Bullwinkle are important parts, and it is her character transformation which is the thematic center of the movie. That's too bad because that theme is pretty hackneyed and not really appropriate for the always acerbic R&B Show. Once again the producers thought that since this was at least in part a cartoon show it must be for kids and so we get inflicted upon us a noisome notion of keeping in touch with one's inner child. Yuck and Double Yuck!
What I want is a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie that's not catering to kiddies but to the adults which the show was aimed at to begin with. I want animation for adults, and not animation for kids and adults, just the adults. "Now that's something you don't see everyday Chauncey." said Edgar.
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