I don't envy the producers of "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle"-- if ever there were a TV show that would go kicking and screaming through the transformation into a big-budget, feature-length motion picture, this was it.
When we last saw our intrepid heroes, they were the stars of three-minute shorts in a '60s cartoon that featured unyieldingly rapid action, unapologetically sloppy animation and a wit quicker than a flying squirrel (not to mention incredibly bad puns). Any summation of the show -- originally "Rocky and Friends" in 1959, then rechristened "The Bullwinkle Show" in 1961 (an injustice to Rocky fans such as myself) -- must include the obligatory statement that it "worked on multiple levels," only because it accomplished this so well. The goofiness for the kids was accompanied by a frequently self-reflexive sense of humor that lampooned Cold War issues for the older set.
Flash forward to the year 2000, when visually polished, special effects-laden films are the norm. The intentionally crude styling of the cartoons are jarringly replaced by a live-action cast of superstars alongside a 3-D animated moose and squirrel. And then comes the problem of marketing. When you remake a show that "worked on multiple levels," how do you market it to that golden "target demographic?" If you've seen any previews of "Rocky an Bullwinkle," you've seen that Universal didn't know how to answer that question -- probably accounting for the film's mediocre showing at the box office last weekend.
Or maybe it was the mediocre film, for while "Rocky and Bullwinkle" frequently displays potential to recreate the charm of the TV series, it comes up short almost as often.
The story begins by catching up on Rocky and Bullwinkle's activities for the last thirty years -- they've been living off ever-dwindling royalties from reruns of their show -- and by detailing the plans of the evil Pottsylvanian Fearless Leader (Robert DeNiro) to create a television network so bad that every viewer turns into a slack-jawed zombie. The FBI sends a plucky agent (ugh, more on her later) to retrieve Rocky and Bullwinkle from their fictional hometown, Frostbite Falls, so they can combat their nemeses, Pottsylvanian henchmen Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.
As I said, the film initially shows promise. The ironic self-consciousness is very much alive, with frequent jabs at cinema, television and mass media in general. There are nice subtle touches, such as when we find that the idealistic FBI agent (Piper Perabo) is named Karen Sympathy, and when Fearless Leader's RBTV (Really Bad Television) network tops "Two Guys and Girl" with "Three Spies and a Horse who is Also a Spy."
And Rocky and Bullwinkle themselves are excellent. June Foray, the original voice of Rocky, returns in this film alongside Keith Scott, who does a pretty good, but not perfect, impression of the original Bullwinkle. Whenever these two are on screen doing their original schtick, there are plenty of laughs. Moose and squirrel are among the few characters that remain entertaining throughout.
I unfortunately can't say the same for the "real" people, who are dreadful alongside their computer-generated costars. Alexander and Russo have the pseudo-Russian accents of Boris and Natasha down pretty well, but that's about it. Alexander is cheerlessly evil, missing what made Boris a great character in the TV series -- he had a lot of fun being mean. Russo is adequate but unremarkable.
DeNiro is one bright spot in the cast, as he plays Fearless Leader in truly cartoonish fashion, with laughably stiff mannerisms and harshly clipped speech patterns. His "Taxi Driver" parody is the funniest scene, for the audience sees not only DeNiro playing a great characterization but also DeNiro laughing at himself.
And then there is Perabo. Playing FBI agent and longtime "Rocky and Bullwinkle" fan Karen Sympathy, Perabo turns in a truly despicable performance, rife with sappy, hypersentimental monologues that the cartoon series would have gleefully deflated. Perabo's performance is so over the top, there is a sense that the movie is building up to the big punchline, a savory moment when someone will finally just say to Agent Sympathy, "SHUT UP!"
Sadly, this moment never comes, which isn't Perabo's fault but one of many weaknesses in the script. Like a number of roll-your-eyes aspects of the film, Perabo's performance could have been made perfect with just a bit of the irony and cynicism that pervaded "The Bullwinkle Show." But instead we suffer with a muddled screenplay, one that makes jokes at cash-hungry Hollywood's expense moments before it plasters the Best Buy and America Online logos (among others) on the screen in an extremely blatant and shameless product placement extravaganza.
So this is another one of those TV series-to-movie conversions that lets us down, that comes disappointingly short in replicating the tone of the original. If you're a "Rocky and Bullwinkle" fan, go to see the movie anyway just for the half-hour in the middle of the film when moose and squirrel hit their stride and the laughs are steady. If you're not a fan (yet), stay home and watch reruns of the old show instead -- you won't be "moosing" anything.
