[Freya-dæg] A Whole Cool World Is Just too Aloof to Care About Explanations

{Cool World's movie poster; the first sign of things to come. Image from Wikipedia.}

Plot Summary
The Good
The Bad
Judgment
Closing



Before Brad Pitt made it big, he starred in a number of TV movies and features that didn't make it to theaters. He was even on a few episodes of the hit series Dallas (check out Wikipedia for his full filmography).

One of the movies from this early part of Pitt's career is the Ralph Bakshi picture known as Cool World, a move that, just like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in 1988, splices real footage with animation.

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Plot Summary

Immediately we're introduced to the movie's hero, Frank Harris (Brad Pitt), as he returns home to his mother after WWII. But, Frank's post-war life is cut short when he crashes his motorcycle after swerving to avoid a drunk couple in what might be a strange nod to Manos:The Hands of Fate. However, just as the ambulance pulls up, Dr. Vincent Whiskers brings Frank into the animated “Cool World.”

Skip ahead 47 years to 1992 and we meet Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne), the creator of Cool World, as he finishes off a prison sentence. But Jack's life isn't about to get any easier, since his most famous drawing, Holli Would (Kim Basinger), keeps bringing him into Cool World in the hopes of having him make her real. As Cool World's top cop, Frank can't let this happen, and a mad pursuit follows.

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The Good

It's always a welcome experience to see big stars in their early roles, and this is no exception. Pitt isn't fantastic here, but it's instructive to see someone like him in a movie like this. It inspires a certain amount of hope.

On the point of the power of individuals in movies, David Bowie also wrote a song for the movie entitled “Real Cool World.” It's a decent example of Bowie's work in the 90s, but it's precise part in this movie will be addressed later on.

As a Ralph Bakshi film, there's definitely a fair deal of trippy animation and visuals, which are good. But only up to a point.

Also, some neat ideas do come up over the course of the movie. Particularly in many of the early exchanges between Jack and Holli – the creator and the created. Actually the entire relationship between Cool World and the real world is rather interesting.

But. Neither of these ideas are particularly developed.

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The Bad

To quote the one-time open mic stand up comedian Doctor Pepper (Patton Oswalt repeats his best bit on Feelin' Kinda Patton): “I don't know where to start or where to begin.”

There are a lot of problems with this movie.

None of the mechanics of the universe are explained. We never get any more information about which came first, the Jack Deebs or the Cool World. We never know if Cool World was created by Jack Deebs from nothing, or if Cool World existed in some kind of realm of ideals and Jack simply pulled it into the real world with his comics.

There's never a reason given for why there are 47 years between the time when Frank gets pulled into Cool World and when Holli starts stirring up trouble.

We never get any real background or idea of what Frank's character is actually like.

We're never told why Holli wants to be made real aside from it allowing her to get power, and “be real.”

Too much time is spent on pointless animated vignettes that scream at the audience “Hey! We're in a cartoon world, isn't this wild!?”

But, on top of all this, the David Bowie song (part of the soundtrack that was better received by critics than the movie itself) is reserved until the end credits. It's not played in parts through the movie, it's not hinted at by any kind of guest appearance. It just plays over the end credits like a minstrel found by house hunters in a secluded closet.

In short, the first hour and fifteen minutes of the movie could be cut down to 20 and the only effect would be that this movie would be about 42 minutes long instead of 98.

{An apt expression to pull after watching Cool World. A screenshot from the movie.}

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Judgment

Cool World is a movie that presents a handful of neat ideas, but those ideas are hidden under sheets and cells of animation that do almost nothing to forward the plot.

This movie would have greatly benefited by starting with the chase scene at the hour and twenty minute mark, and then telling the story in flashbacks, or with some other sequential shuffling.

It also wouldn't have hurt if a reason was given for why it took 47 years for something to happen in Cool World with Holli, or why it took her until the end of Jack Deeb's prison sentence to start trying to get him to make her real.

Or even some kind of explanation of why Holli wanted to be real, and what the purpose and/or origin of a spike on top of a random Vegas hotel was would have helped. But, to quote the good Doctor Whiskers himself, “the spike...is beyond our understanding.” And so too is much of the motivation within and for this movie.

Freya, fly high, and when you pass over this one, make sure that you don't look down, unless there be a thick covering of cloud.

To help wash away the terrible taste of this movie from your mind, check out this music video for Bowser and Blue's “Just A Cartoon.” It does so much more with the idea of human/cartoon crossovers than the entirety of Cool World.

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Closing

Next week, check back here for another variation on Monday's entries, an article on the newest news, and a hunt for the good in M. Night. Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

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