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Details:
Title: Cool World
Director: Ralph Bakshi
Produced by: Frank Mancuso Jr., Ralph Bakshi
Starring: Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and others
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
Plot Summary:
Cool World (1992) is a bold and visually distinctive hybrid live-action/animated film, directed by Ralph Bakshi. The movie is a feverish exploration of desire, reality, and escapism, set in a world where animated characters known as "doodles" coexist with human beings.
The film follows two main protagonists, Jack Deebs (Brad Pitt), a cartoonist, and Holli Would (Kim Basinger), a seductive doodle who is determined to enter the real world.
The film begins in the 1940s, when Jack, a young man, is jailed for a crime he committed while under the influence of an imagination that thrives on his drawings. In prison, Jack dreams up Cool World, a vibrant, animated universe that parallels his own reality.
After being released from prison, Jack is mysteriously pulled into this cartoon world. Here, he meets Holli Would, a femme fatale who desires to cross over into the real world and become human.
Unbeknownst to Jack, his presence in Cool World is a rare event that could disrupt the balance between the real world and the animated one.
Holli begins to manipulate him, trying to seduce him into breaking the one major rule of Cool World: humans and doodles are forbidden to have physical relations, which would allow a doodle to enter the real world.
As tensions rise, Jack's past actions collide with his present in a chaotic swirl of desire, deception, and fantasy, leading to disastrous consequences for both worlds.
Holli’s pursuit of a human form, combined with Jack's tangled relationship with her, sets the stage for a destructive finale, where the boundaries between cartoon and reality blur, threatening both realms.
Introduction to the Cast of Characters:
The key characters introduced early on include:
Jack Deebs (played by Brad Pitt) – Jack is a troubled young man whose imagination has both trapped him in a world of his own creation and led him into a fantastical mess. He is both an innocent dreamer and a victim of his own desires, struggling to reconcile his life in the real world with his compelling creations.
Holli Would (played by Kim Basinger) – Holli is a voluptuous, seductive animated character from Cool World who yearns to leave the world of doodles and enter the real one. Her ambitions are driven by a desire for power and the allure of becoming human, but her manipulative nature makes her a dangerous figure in both realms.
Frank Harris (played by Gabriel Byrne) – Frank is a former cop, now a resident of Cool World, who has become a guardian between the two worlds. Frank tries to prevent Jack from falling into the trap set by Holli, having already lost a loved one to the dangers of the doodle realm. His experience makes him both a protector and a tragic figure.
The "Doodles" (Various Characters) – These animated figures populate Cool World, each with unique personalities, but they function largely as background figures or objects for the film's themes. The doodles are symbolic representations of fantasy and excess, often indulging in strange, exaggerated versions of human behavior.
The AZL Take
The dice were stacked against this one, but it was my fault. I - for no good reason other than it is what it is - assumed this movie was fully animated. (Also, as noted above, the movie's collective ratings are either 4% or 31%, depending on the source...either way, this movie had only one really good thing going for it up front, and that's just how much I wanted to like it.
The whole Roger Rabbit/Space Jam hybrid animation/live-action thing is typically very difficult to pull off, and I think part of it is just how much more it demands of actors AND animators. (Probably) needless to say, I'm not always in love with the hybrid films - or at least, I don't expect much from them.
So when it opened up on live action actors, I turned down my expectations by a notch or two. Now, I'm as tin foil as it gets, and I'm all chock-full-o-theories on Hollyweird, so I don't want to come across as being overly star-smitten, but I will admit for the sake of a fair review and an honest self-reflection, that my expectations came up when I realized it was a young Brad Pitt.
How had this movie not ever found its way back to the surface for all the Brad Pitt loving world out there?
Side Note: I was trying to figure out the name of the lady who played Brad Pitt's mom in the movie and stumbled across a link to the DVD for this movie on Amazon...holy macker...er...holy Bat, Shitman!
...fortunately for me, I paid a lot less for my copy. Funny though, the reviews call this thing a complete and utter turd...I can't think of many other movies people would even think to try and sell for nearly a grand...
I thought, and of course I would, that Bakshi tackled the hybrid animation bit with class man, I thought it was fantastic. There are some little things he didn't have to do, but when he did them, I was f*ckin' thrilled to see it.
I'll give one example that will make sense if you have seen it or if you see it later - and that is when Brad Pitt winds up sharing a cartoon cigarette with a doodle - the attention that went into that minor detail is the kind of minutia that makes or breaks a hybrid film, and Ralph didn't skip a beat on this one.
Anyway, as is customary on these things, let's break this baby down and take a look under the hood, shall we?
Inciting Incident:
The inciting incident of Cool World occurs when Jack Deebs, a man recently released from prison, is pulled into the animated world of Cool World. This supernatural event happens after Jack sketches an image of the world he once imagined during his time in jail, leading to his unwitting entry into this space.
His arrival in Cool World marks a pivotal moment, where the rules governing the interaction between doodles and humans are established.
It is here that Jack first encounters Holli Would, an animated character whose insatiable desires immediately make her the catalyst for much of the conflict that follows.
Holli’s plan is to cross over into the human world by seducing Jack, who is unaware of the drastic consequences this would have for both realms.
This event sets the stage for the unfolding drama, where Jack’s own desires and Holli’s manipulation begin to spiral out of control.
The moment is critical because it introduces the central conflict of the film – the temptation and dangers of crossing between the worlds.
Jack’s encounter with Holli forces him to confront his own vulnerabilities and desires, while Holli’s actions lead her to pursue increasingly dangerous solutions to achieve her goal of becoming human.
The Dreamer’s Mission:
At its heart, Cool World is about the blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality, and Jack’s mission is tied to the exploration of these realms.
However, it becomes clear that Jack’s mission, initially driven by a desire to escape his mundane existence, evolves into a desperate attempt to restore order between the two worlds.
His primary objective shifts from merely surviving in Cool World to preventing the destructive consequences of Holli’s plan.
Jack is drawn into a complex emotional and physical journey, where he must navigate his feelings for Holli and the realities of her manipulation. Holli’s desire to transcend her doodle identity and become human poses a direct threat to the natural order of the worlds, and Jack must eventually confront this in a way that requires him to make a choice between the two realities.
The dreamer in him must wrestle with his actions in the fantasy world and the consequences they hold in the real world.
Through Jack, the film examines the nature of escapism – both its allure and its dangers. Jack’s mission, therefore, is not just to stop Holli, but to stop himself from getting lost in the fantasy world, forcing him to reckon with the consequences of indulging in desires that blur the line between the human and the fictional.
The Human Struggle:
The struggle in Cool World is deeply rooted in the tension between fantasy and reality, a theme that is most clearly exemplified in Jack’s character arc.
As a human drawn into a world of doodles, Jack represents the desire for escape, the urge to surrender to a world of imagination, where consequences are absent, and desires are endless. However, as Jack becomes more involved in Cool World, the darker side of this escapism reveals itself.
Jack’s emotional and physical struggle is both external (in terms of the conflict between the worlds) and internal (as he grapples with his own emotional attachment to Holli and the allure of the doodle world).
While he tries to maintain a grip on his humanity, Holli’s constant manipulation puts him in a precarious position, pulling him deeper into a world that threatens his very existence.
In contrast, Holli’s struggle is equally compelling but driven by a sense of entitlement and ambition. Her desire to leave Cool World and enter the real world is motivated by a profound yearning for what she perceives as the ultimate power – being human.
Yet, her journey reflects the emptiness of such a desire and the eventual realization that achieving her goal would only result in destruction…particularly as she keeps flashing into some kind of creepy cartoon clown thing 🤣🤣🤣
Thus, the human struggle in Cool World is not just about surviving between two worlds, but understanding the inherent dangers of indulging in fantasy at the cost of reality...
...also, I think they're making it pretty clear that humans should not seek to romp with doodles.
The Climax:
The climax of Cool World occurs when the stakes between the two worlds reach a breaking point.
The moment of truth arrives when Jack must make a choice between continuing his relationship with Holli or stopping her from entering the human world. As Holli grows increasingly desperate, her power over Jack intensifies, and the boundaries between the animated world and the real world begin to break down.
In a final confrontation, Jack faces the reality of the destruction Holli’s presence in the human world would cause. The world of Cool World is on the verge of collapsing, and Jack must intervene to prevent the catastrophic blending of the two worlds.
The climax is marked by a chaotic sequence where the forces of both the animated and real worlds collide, leading to a visually frenetic and emotionally charged resolution.
At the film’s most intense moment, Jack is forced to choose whether to save Cool World or prevent the destruction of the real world. His actions ultimately lead to a tragic ending, where the fantasy world begins to fade and crumble, leaving behind a sense of irreversible loss for both Jack and Holli.
Themes and Analysis:
Cool World explores a range of thematic elements, primarily focusing on the dangers of escapism, the consequences of unchecked desire, and the thin line between fantasy and reality. The film critiques the way in which people use fantasy as a way of escaping the complexities of life, only to find that such escape can be both seductive and destructive.
A central theme is the destructive power of desire. Holli’s lust for becoming human represents the idea of craving something unattainable, and the consequences of such ambition. Her willingness to manipulate Jack and defy the rules of Cool World underscores the danger of getting lost in one's fantasies.
The film also touches on the theme of power. Holli's desire to control both worlds – the real one and the doodle world – illustrates the seductive pull of power and the lengths people will go to achieve it. For Jack, his mission to stop Holli reflects the struggle against the forces of desire and ambition, as he must come to terms with the consequences of his own actions in Cool World.
The hybrid nature of the film – combining live-action and animation – serves as a metaphor for the blending of the real and the imaginary. The visual contrast between the animated world of Cool World and the human world reflects the larger thematic tension between fantasy and reality.
Critical Reception and Legacy:
Cool World received mixed to negative reviews upon its release. Critics criticized the film for its confusing narrative, chaotic visuals, and uneven tone. Many found the film’s mixture of live-action and animation jarring, with some suggesting that the narrative suffered from a lack of clarity and cohesion.
However, the film has gained a cult following over the years. Its unique animation style, blending the grotesque and the sensual, alongside its dark, adult-oriented themes, has made it a memorable piece of 1990s cinema. The film's exploration of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, combined with Ralph Bakshi's characteristic animation style, ensured its place in the annals of animated film history.
Despite its mixed reception, Cool World remains a notable entry in the genre of adult animation, particularly for its adult themes and its exploration of the relationship between humans and animated worlds. It stands as an experiment in blending two distinct forms of storytelling and has inspired future works in the hybrid live-action/animation genre.
Conclusion:
Cool World is an ambitious film that explores the collision of fantasy and reality through a provocative and darkly sensual narrative. While its execution may have been flawed in some aspects, the film’s unique premise and themes make it a noteworthy work in the landscape of adult animation. Ralph Bakshi's vision of a world where human desires and animated fantasies collide has left a lasting mark on the genre, even if some feel its full potential was never realized.
Ultimately, Cool World serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of losing oneself in fantasy, and the destructive consequences of unchecked ambition.
The film’s legacy endures as a cult classic, continuing to captivate audiences with its bold vision and exploration of the boundaries between the real and the imagined.
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