Review of Cool World (1992) by Tim G — 26 Sep 2015

Watching this film is like seeing into what Ralph Bakshi's version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit would have looked like: dark, brimming with atmosphere, and more counter cultural. Too bad that Bakshi's talents are wasted on such a terrible script, which never quite explains how the universe works or gives context clues to the audience to figure that out.

The characters are paper thin, and what little characterization they have has been done in more interesting ways before and since. Out of the three leads, Brad Pitt is the best (if only because he is not playing the lead as seriously as the rest of the film), Gabriel Bryne is trying the hardest, and Kim Bassinger gives one of her worst performances to date.

The integration of the animation and the actors is among the worst I've ever seen, and even worse it's stylistically inconsistent: sometimes the animated characters exist on a sound stage with the actors, and in another shot in the same scene they are part of a painted background.

The film also has too much filler in it, with certain scenes and characters that give nothing of value to the story. The story is needlessly dark and self serious garbage, which makes the film even harder to sit through.

Ultimately, a waste of time that isn't worth visiting, even if you are a huge Bakshi fan.