Are You With Us? Rocky and Bullwinkle
By Ryan Mazie
June 20, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The movie was The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle.
Now you might be asking, “They made that into a movie?” And the answer is, “Yes, and it is fairly good.”
With a budget of $76 million, Universal Studios obviously had a lot of hope that Rocky & Bullwinkle would be a hit able to appeal to little kids, their parents and grandparents who watched the show. With potential amusement park rides, toys, stuffed animals, and the show back in syndication, Universal would have made a mint if they could revitalize the franchise that ended its TV run in 1964.
While the film did not restart the Rocky & Bullwinkle franchise, it can be dubiously noted for starting the trend of taking 2D cartoons and setting them in the real world with CGI-animal stars.
I barely remember watching the film in theaters (granted, I was nine), but I must have enjoyed it somewhat since it turns out that I own the film on DVD. Not touching the DVD since probably the day I got it, I popped it into the Blu-Ray player to sit through what I was expecting to be a painful 92 minutes.
However, I was pleasantly surprised on how biting the film was. Cynicism at its finest; The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle starts out in classic hand-drawn format where it turns out our titular heroes have been stuck in reruns since 1964. Meanwhile, arch nemesis Fearless Leader (played by… Robert De Niro?!?!?!) and his henchmen Boris (Jason Alexander) and Natasha (Rene Russo) have escaped from TV by convincing a movie executive to greenlight the series into a live action film. Fearless Leader then wreaks havoc on the real world by brainwashing Americans through their television sets to vote him President.
FBI Agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo) is sent to get Rocky and Bullwinkle out of syndication to thwart Fearless’s plans and reintroduce her childhood heroes to a new generation.
Taking Hollywood literally, screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan (Analyze This, Gangs of New York) constantly zings the movie industry left and right. For instance, we see a studio executive shredding scripts because they are, “Too intelligent,” and a judge letting a certain character out of prison, because “Celebrities are above the law.” But we also get Rocky and Bullwinkle’s classic goofy wordplay that can appeal to the humor of a six-year-old, 16-year-old, and even a 60-year-old. This is where the movie succeeds. But with its shockingly pessimistic behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment industry, it is easy to see why little kids would be off put by the film. With the trailer highlighting none of the witty, adult-oriented jokes, it is even easier to see why there was no audience traction.
Rocky and Bullwinkle was the last Jay Ward-created cartoon adaptation after a boon that started with 1997’s wildly successful George of the Jungle. Smelling money, Universal also adapted Dudley Do-Right two years later, which was an unmitigated disaster, costing $70 million and not even cracking $10 million at the box office. This proves that cartoon adaptations work, but they still have to be popular, which goes to show why CGI-live action hybrid Scooby-Doo in 2002 was a big hit compared with Bullwinkle.
Opening in fifth place in only 2,460 theaters (a sign of little faith from Universal) to a laughable $6.8 million, Rocky & Bullwinkle didn’t even have typical legs that movies aimed at the younger-set have to beef up the box office. Overall, the flying squirrel and 400-pound moose only managed to squeeze $26 million of nostalgia ($38 million adjusted), with $9 million coming from overseas (although it was released in just a handful of markets).
Critics were fairly kind as far as this type of movie goes, with a 50% rating among Top Critics on Rottentomatoes.com (Scooby only got 41%, Alvin received 24%, Yogi Bear got 18%, and Garfield scrapped the bottom of the barrel at 12%). Roger Ebert gave the movie the most noted praise that appears even on the DVD cover. Critics enjoyed the nostalgic fun, yet some found the cynicism too snarky and the acting all around got booed. I found the snarky cynicism one of the highlights.
June Foray, the only surviving voice actor of the original cartoon at the time (still alive today), reprised her voice acting role as Rocky. Keith Scott took over for the deceased Bill Scott (no relation) for the voice of Bullwinkle as well as the narrator. While the voice acting is fine and actually a highlight, the live-action actors are a sore spot. Piper Perabo, who found fame a few weeks later that summer with the fun trash fest Coyote Ugly (which you probably unassumingly stumbled upon before since it seems to be aired on TV at least once a day), could not seem to adjust to talking to something that would be digitally added in later. With frequent mood swings (more the script's fault) and long disappearances and reappearances, her character really never forms.
Rene Russo and Jason Alexander are broad generalizations at best, and the latter actually publicly apologized for the film on Howard Stern’s radio show. De Niro acts as if he is on Saturday Night Live, which actually works for the part since it is more of a spoof than a character. It is clear that De Niro had childhood memories of the series, for his production company TriBeCa Productions is behind the film.
Loaded with cameos (John Goodman! Whoopi Goldberg! Billy Crystal! Keenan & Kel!) it is obvious that The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle was trying to be reheated after the Cold War; yet, nothing ever truly works. I admire the biting entertainment industry commentary the film uses to make our heroes welcome to the 21st century, but when a movie wasn’t even with audiences 11 years ago, it still is not with us today.
In the film, Rocky the flying squirrel has lost his ability to soar after years of ennui. Just like Rocky, the film has all the elements needed to succeed, but the energy is missing to truly get off the ground.
Verdict: Not With Us
6 out of 10