The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #11: "Looney Tunes: Back in Action"

2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #11

by Xavier E. Palacios

"Looney Tunes: Back in Action"

3 out of 5

Directed by Joe Dante

Rated "PG"

In a cartoonish world where the hand-drawn Looney Tunes characters exist with live-action people, Damian Drake Jr. (Brendan Fraser), a security guard at Warner Bros. Studios with aspirations of becoming a stunt man, is fired after failing to prevent a disastrous rampage on the lot by the just-sacked Daffy Duck (voiced by Joe Alaskey). When both return to the house of Damian's father, the famous spy actor (Timothy Dalton), they discover that Drake Sr. is actually a real spy who must be recused from the clutches of the goofy but sinister ACME Corporation, led by the ludicrous Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin). They must also complete his secret mission: finding the legendary Blue Monkey diamond, which has the power to turn people into monkeys and back again, before ACME uses the gem for their fiscally nefarious plot. Soon, the pair are joined by a Warner Bros. executive, Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman), and Bugs Bunny (also voiced by Joe Alaskey), who are trying to bring Daffy back to the studio as Bugs' co-star. On their international search for the diamond, the group is hunted and opposed by other Looney Tunes in service to ACME, leading to an over-the-top finale to save the world.

If I have never said so in the past, my major introduction to the Looney Tunes, other than in the background of my life by growing up in the United States or seeing Bugs Bunny beside the Warner Bros. logo before Batman and Superman cartoons in the '90s, was likely 1996's Space Jam. A malevolently corporate flick which, upon review, is harmless and fair entertainment that, like so many of my generation, I loved as a little kid; still, that admiration did not last into my adolescence. However, I became the Looney Tunes fan I am today when I began watching the classic shorts on the Boomerang channel (once a spin-off of the still-running Cartoon Network). By my recollection, they were on at six o'clock. So, after finishing my elementary school homework, there was this beautiful period where I watched those cartoons and laughed so hard my stomach hurt, my innocent cackling echoing throughout my childhood living room. I found gold.

Thanks to these magnificent and cherished shorts and characters, I experienced one of the first times I realized I had the tendencies, traits, and personality ticks of being one of the "different" kids. I was in fourth grade. With two other students, I was raising the American flag at the pole across the lawn from our classroom. With great excitement, I was recounting to them how I saw Bugs Bunny doing the funniest stuff ever the night before! I had to share with fellow kids that Boomerang was showing these cartoons every night practically commercial free! Children had to know! But while one classmate, if I am remembering correctly, had an unpleasantly apathetic reaction, the other decried any merit in the Looney Tunes. She cited them as being childish nonsense for little kids, implying I was being an immature, uncool dork. I did not believe she was right for one second, because me and that cast were sympatico, and that moment was about when I learned that too many of my classmates were grade-A morons.

I also have a memory shortly after my grandmother's death; she is the origin of my "Palacios" name. Her husband, my grandpa, was watching some TV in their bedroom, where, just a few months ago, I could sit and talk with both of them. I can still feel what that bed felt like; encompassing and safe. I first tried my hand at the infamous Riku-Ansem boss fight in the original Kingdom Hearts on the PlayStation 2 in that room, but that is a tale for another day. Anyhow, my grandpa, who first introduced me to the special feeling of Latino music, told me that, when he would sail into the West, he would bestow upon me a gift, an item he possessed.