Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Directed by	Joe Dante Brad Bird
Produced by	Paula Weinstein Bernie Goldman
Written by	Brad Bird Karey Kirkpatrick Larry Doyle
Based on	Looney Tunes by Warner Bros.
Starring	Brendan Fraser Jenna Elfman Timothy Dalton Joan Cusack Bill Goldberg Heather Locklear Steve Martin
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	Oswald Morris
Edited by	Marshall Harvey Rick W. Finney
Production companies	Warner Bros. Feature Animation Baltimore Spring Creek Productions Goldmann Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	May 5, 2003 (2003-05-05)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$68.5 million

Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live-action/animated comedy movie directed by Joe Dante.

Plot

Disillusioned of playing the fall guy to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck demands his own cartoon from Warner Bros., but is promptly fired by the "Vice-President of Comedy", Kate Houghton. Security guard and struggling stuntman DJ Drake is asked to escort Daffy off the studio lot, but the ensuing chase leads to the Batmobile demolishing the studio water tower, causing DJ to also get fired in the process. He returns home with Daffy following him, where he receives a message from his father, film star, Damian Drake, who is actually a secret agent. Damian instructs his son to travel to Las Vegas, find his associate, Dusty Tails, and find a mystical diamond called the "blue monkey", he is shortly thereafter captured by the Acme Corporation, led by the eccentric Mr. Chairman. DJ and Daffy head for Vegas. Meanwhile, Bugs' routines fail without Daffy, so Kate is forced to locate and rehire Daffy or face being terminated herself. Bugs informs Kate of the situation, so they head to DJ's home where they find Damian's spy car, and use it to pursue DJ and Daffy.

In Las Vegas, DJ and Daffy meet Dusty in a casino owned by Yosemite Sam, who happens to be an associate of the Acme Corporation. Dusty gives them a strange playing card, which is a clue to finding the diamond. Sam and his henchmen attempt to kill them and take the card, but they manage to elude him and flee in the spy car with Bugs and Kate. The spy car, which can also fly, crashes in the Nevada desert. As they travel through the desert, Wile E. Coyote tries to stop them, but is foiled. The group eventually stumbles upon Area 52, run by a woman called 'mother', who informs them of the situation. She plays a video recording, which reveals that the Blue Monkey has the power to devolve humans into monkeys and evolve them back again. Acme intends on using the blue monkey on all of mankind to manufacture their products, and then turn them back to purchase them. Marvin the Martian, who was imprisoned in the facility, escapes and leads a group of fellow alien inmates to obtain the playing card, but the heroes escape. Seeing that the card has Mona Lisa's face on it, the group conclude they must view the painting in the Louvre, located in Paris.

At the Louvre, they discover that the card contains a viewing window, and looking through it, the window reveals that the Mona Lisa has a map of Africa hidden beneath. Bugs and Daffy's co-star, Elmer Fudd, appears, revealing himself as an Acme henchman, and chases Bugs and Daffy through the gallery to obtain the card whilst Kate is kidnapped by Mr. Chairman's bodyguard, Mr. Smith with help of Beaky Buzzard. DJ rescues Kate while Elmer is disintegrated by Bugs after jumping out of a pointillism artwork. Bugs and Daffy reunite with DJ and Kate, and they leave Paris.

DJ, Kate, Bugs, and Daffy travel to Africa, meeting Granny, Sylvester, and Tweety, who escort them to the ruins of a jungle temple where they find the blue monkey. However, Granny and company reveal themselves to be Mr. Chairman, Smith, and the Tasmanian Devil in disguise. Mr. Chairman uses a disintegration gun to transport himself and the heroes to the Acme headquarters where he forces DJ to give him the diamond, when Damian is revealed to be his prisoner, but goes back on his word to release him.

Marvin is sent to place the blue monkey on an Acme satellite which will emit an energy beam around the world to turn everyone, except Mr. Chairman, into monkeys. DJ and Kate rescue Damian from a death trap, whilst Bugs and Daffy chase Marvin into space. Bugs is thwarted by Marvin, prompting Daffy to become Duck Dodgers, in order to destroy the blue monkey. The transforming energy beam only strikes Mr. Chairman, turning him into a monkey. Bugs and Daffy return to Earth, where Daffy discovers the whole adventure was staged to make a film. However, Bugs promises Daffy they will be equal partners, but just as Daffy's luck seems to be improving, he is crushed by the Looney Tunes iris, where Porky Pig attempts to close the film with "That's all folks!" only for the studio to shut down before he can finish, and he bitterly tells the audience to go home.

Cast

• Brendan Fraser as Damian "D. J." Drake, Jr. / himself
  • Fraser also voiced Tasmanian Devil and Tasmanian She-Devil
• Jenna Elfman as Kate Houghton
• Steve Martin as Mr. Chairman
• Heather Locklear as Dusty Tails
• Joan Cusack as Mother
• Timothy Dalton as Damian Drake
• Bill Goldberg as Bob Smith
• Don Stanton as Mr. Warner
• Dan Stanton as Mr. Warner's brother
• Matthew Lillard as himself (cameo)
• Jeff Gordon as himself (cameo)
• Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell (cameo)
• Michael Jordan as himself (cameo via archive footage from Space Jam)
• Marc Lawrence as Acme VP, Stating the Obvious
• Ron Perlman as Acme VP, Never Learning
• Robert Picardo as Acme VP, Rhetorical Questions

Voice cast

• Joe Alaskey as Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Sylvester / Beaky Buzzard / Mama Bear
• Jeff Bennett as Foghorn Leghorn / Yosemite Sam / Nasty Canasta
• Billy West as Elmer Fudd / Peter Lorre
• Eric Goldberg as Marvin the Martian / Speedy Gonzales / Tweety
• Bruce Lanoil as Pepé Le Pew
• June Foray as Granny
• Bob Bergen as Porky Pig
• Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
• Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo
• Danny Chambers as Cottontail Smith
• Stan Freberg as Junior Bear
• Will Ryan as Papa Bear
• Danny Mann as Robo Dog / Spy Car
• Mel Blanc as Gremlin Car (archive recordings)
• Paul Julian as Road Runner (archive recordings) (uncredited)
• Bill Roberts as Michigan J. Frog (archive recordings) (uncredited)
• Johnnie Davis as Owl Jolson (archive recordings) (uncredited)

Production

The movie was originally going to be called Spy Jam, but it was changed to Looney Tunes: Back in Action to prevent associations with Space Jam.

Sequel

The sequel Looney Tunes: Back in Action 2 will be released on April 29, 2022.

Reception

Critics and audiences loved it but it didn't do well at the box office.