The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is a 2000 film based on the television cartoon The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show by Jay Ward. The animated characters Rocky and Bullwinkle shared the screen with live actors portraying Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander), Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo), and FBI agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo).
This movie also features guest appearances by Billy Crystal, Janeane Garofalo, Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, David Allen Grier, Kel Mitchell, Don Novello, Jon Polito, Carl Reiner, Kenan Thompson, and Jonathan Winters.
Plot
1964 saw the cancellation of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and life became rather miserable and melancholy for Rocky (voiced by June Foray) and Bullwinkle (voiced by Keith Scott). Rocky lost his ability to fly, their home Frostbite Falls was thrown into deforestation and the two received rather cheap paychecks for re-runs of their old show. Even the show's old narrator (voiced by Keith Scott) has been forced to move in with his mother (voiced by June Foray) where he narrates the events of his own life. However, for the old villains of the show, Fearless Leader, Boris Badenov (both voiced by Keith Scott) and Natasha Fatale (voiced by June Foray), things seem to be looking up for them. After the Iron Curtain literally falls on them, and their country of Pottsylvania is freed from their dictatorship, the villains dig underground, popping up in a television set in Phoney Picture Studios in Los Angeles where they goad an executive Minnie Mogel (Janeane Garofalo) into producing the new Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie. She signs a contract and pulls it out of the television, bringing the villains with it who become live action characters.
Six months on, FBI Director Cappy Von Trapment (Randy Quaid) and bungling but beautiful agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo) visit President Signoff (James Rebhorn) at the White House, showing him that every single block of American cable programming has been bought by Fearless Leader (portrayed by Robert De Niro) and formed into a single network called RBTV - or Really Bad Television. Cappy explains that the television programmes will be so terrible, that they can "zombify" the entire country and make them vote Fearless Leader as the new President of the United States. Cappy sends Karen to summon Rocky and Bullwinkle from the cartoon world to save the country. She succeeds using a special green lighthouse, which she uses to literally greenlight them, summoning Rocky, Bullwinkle and the unseen Narrator to the lighthouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle becoming CGI characters, and the Narrator somehow turns invisible (seeing as how he is not even seen when they spin inside the bulb of the lighthouse).
The trio head out across the country to save the day, but Fearless Leader hears of their return from a literal mole in the White House and he sends Boris and Natasha (portrayed by Jason Alexander and Rene Russo) to stop them. Armed with a truck of typical cartoon weaponry and a laptop called the CDI (Computer Degenerating Imagery) that can destroy cartoon characters, Boris and Natasha try to defeat the heroes with a safe, sticks of dynamite and a cannon, but the heroes steal their truck. Luckily, the villains locate a helicopter and secretly follow the heroes. Natasha, impersonating Karen, warns the state troopers of Oklahoma of their stolen truck. A trooper (John Goodman) arrests Karen and takes her to a woman's prison. Rocky and Bullwinkle continue on their own.
Both are picked up by Martin (Kel Mitchell) and Lewis (Kenan Thompson), two students at Wossamotta U., Bullwinkle's old university where he was a football player. Bullwinkle heads to his old university to receive an "Honorary Mooster's Degree" after Boris and Natasha sent the university's chairman a money paycheque in Bullwinkle's name. Rocky spots Boris on a recently built water tower trying to kill Bullwinkle using the CDI, but the squirrel's old flying ability kicks in and he saves Bullwinkle's life. The crowd gathered to protest against Bullwinkle's degree are distracted by Rocky's heroics and applauds, although Bullwinkle (who has been gasbagging this whole time) mistakes them for liking his speech. The two leave Wossamotta U. using Martin and Lewis' convertible.
Karen escapes from jail by tricking a lovestruck Swedish prison guard named Ole (Rod Biermann), leaving him waiting for her at a cinema while she drives off in his pickup truck. Boris and Natasha pursue Rocky and Bullwinkle through the city streets of Chicago. Boris and Natasha accidentally degenerating their helicopter with the CDI causing Boris and Natasha to land on a travelling matress salesman (Billy Crystal). However, they rent a car from the Cheap-O Rent A Car Company.
Rocky, Bullwinkle and Karen coincidentally are reunited only to be arrested by a bunch of policemen and put on trial with Judge Cameo (Whoopi Goldberg) presiding. Bullwinkle acts the lawyer which doesn't go well for Karen. Upon recognizing Rocky and Bullwinkle when she puts on her glasses, Judge Cameo freaks out and dismisses the case claiming to the prosecutor that "celebrities are above the law."
Later, the trio of heroes buy an old bi-plane from Old Jeb (Jonathan Winters) and head back to New York, Boris and Natasha's attempts to stop them are thwarted by the car company employees. The two consider giving up their job and think about getting married and having children. Fearless Leader calls them and they lie that they killed Rocky and Bullwinkle. The bi-plane the heroes are in begins to lose altitude due to too much weight. Rocky airlifts Karen to New York while Bullwinkle flies the bi-plane to Washington DC to address Signoff about the deforestation of Frostbite Falls.
Rocky and Karen break into the RBTV headquarters but are captured when they try to stop Fearless Leader. They are soon turned into vegetables, something of which was done to three other FBI agents (portrayed by Mark Holton, Doug Jones, and Jane Edith Wilson) previously. Bullwinkle is e-mailed to the RBTV building by Cappy at the White House.
As Fearless Leader broadcasts to the American public to try and make himself President, pandemonium breaks around him as Bullwinkle pops out of a computer and disrupts the signal of the Quality Control, the device that is zombifying the American public. Rocky and Karen are restored to normal and fight the villains, defeating Boris and Natasha easily while Bullwinkle charges upon Fearless Leader, defeating him too. Bullwinkle broadcasts to the country, asking them to vote for whoever they want and for the winning candidate to replant the trees in Frostbite Falls. Karen destroys the Quality Control, freeing the country. Bullwinkle messes with the CDI, zapping the villains, sending them to the Internet.
In the end, President Signoff wins the election, RBTV becomes Rocky and Bullwinke Television, Karen goes out with Ole to the cinema where they watch the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie produced by Minnie Mogul. The Narrator is reunited with his mother, and Rocky and Bullwinkle's home has been restored. Bullwinkle concludes the film, remembering how they went to "New York to meet President Washington".
Cast
Production notes
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit is referenced as one of Fearless Leader's minions asks him, "What about Roger Rabbit?", when Fearless Leader states there has never been a way to actually kill off a cartoon. Fearless Leader shouts, "Shut up! This is completely different!"
- The University infirmary is labeled "J. Ward", a homage to Rocky and Bullwinkle creator, Jay Ward.
- Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro) says to Boris & Natasha "You talkin' to me?... There's no one else here, so you must be talking to me". This is a reference to De Niro's legendary scene from Taxi Driver.
- Director Cameo: Des McAnuff The first person to turn off their TV after Bullwinkle's speech.
- The businesses lining the highways have some rather suggestive names. Among them are "Lotta Room Motel", "Pump Her Up" (gas station), "Beefy Buns" (fast food), and (glimpsed briefly through the driver's window of the truck) "Boob Mart".
- The name of Bullwinkle's alma mater is Whassamatta U. This university was actually featured in the original cartoons, though its exact location was never given; the film places it in Illinois.
- This film was originally in pre-production in the early 1990s, with Danny DeVito and Meryl Streep set to play Boris and Natasha. Legal problems with copyrights prevented the film being made until several years later.
- The students in the film were actually real students of Chapman University, where part of the film takes place.
- June Foray, one of the surviving members of the original "Rocky and His Friends" (1959), who created the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, does Rocky's voice for this film. She also recreates the voice of Natasha (when Natasha is in cartoon form) and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother.
- For the narration, Keith Scott is doing an imitation of the voice of the late William Conrad, who had been the narrator for the original animated adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "Rocky and His Friends".
- When Bullwinkle is surfing the Internet, ads for real companies and products are shown, including Travelodge, Best Buy, Nokia, Milky Way bar, PetSmart, and AOL.
- The Computer Degenerating Imagery (CDI) is in fact, a parody of Computer Generated Imagery, a technique of having characters created on computers
- Whilst Bullwinkle is talking about reruns, Kel Mitchell quips "you know that's never going to happen to us right?" to which Kenan Thompson winks; this is a reference to the now in reruns Kenan & Kel show, which had already ended at that point.
Reception
The critical consensus was that although the movie retained the style and spirit of the classic cartoons, it wasn't nearly as funny or engaging as the original cartoon series. The Tomatometer rating for the film at Rotten Tomatoes is at 43 percent.
The film was nominated for two Saturn Awards, Alexander for Best Supporting Actor and Russo for Best Supporting Actress. Russo was also nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst Supporting Actress. Jason Alexander issued a public apology for the film and his appearance in it, which was replayed a number of times on the Howard Stern Show.
In recent years, fans of the original show have been more favorable towards the film and it now has a cult following.[citation needed]
Deleted scenes
The trailer and television commercials for the film showed deleted or modified scenes that were in the movie:
- Bullwinkle turns to the audience and exclaims "WHASSSUUUUUUP?" This scene is not in the theatrical release.
- When the car flies over the river, Bullwinkle yells, "I'm king of the world!" In the film, there is complete silence during the scene.
- When Bullwinkle "lands" the plane in Washington, D.C. he says, "I'd like to use one of my lifelines please!" In the film, he mentions that he "couldn't find the brakes."
- The scene in which Karen Sympathy tells Rocky, "Rocket J. Squirrel, America needs you!" is not included in the film.
References
External links
