Neither of the principal QoDers here has seen the movie, although it did ring a bell with the current writer when you mentioned it. And having read some interesting reviews, we're quite intrigued to see it. In the absence of any first-hand knowledge, we're turning to Amazon.com for more information about the plot, and some reviews, which shed some more light on this 1992 flick that mixes animation with live-action and has been referred to as "Roger Rabbit's sick twisted cousin."
First up, here's a brief synopsis from the back-cover copy:
"When ex-con cartoonist Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) was behind bars he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a voluptuous vixen named Holli Would.
"But the 'toonsmith becomes a prisoner of his own fantasies when Holli pulls Jack into Cool World with a scheme to seduce him and bring herself to life. A hard-boiled detective (Brad Pitt)--the only other human in Cool World--cautions Jack with the law: 'Noids (humans) don't have sex with doodles (cartoons).
"The flesh proves weaker than ink, however, as Holli takes human form (Kim Basinger) in Las Vegas, starring in a trans-universal chase that threatens the destruction of both worlds."
Wow! Still, that description doesn't have us rushing to buy the DVD; some of the viewers' reviews, however, definitely piqued our interest. Here are some examples:
"Sandoz" in Virginia gave it a four-star rating, calling it "an underrated cult classic."
"Cool World is a film with a very unique animation style that brings to mind classic '40s cartoons like Betty Boop or Red Hot Riding Hood, only they're given a sexier edge. The characters are also what makes Cool World cool. Harris, Jack, and especially Lonnette are surprisingly three-dimensional and likable."
"JC" in New York calls Cool World "subliminal" and gives it five out of five stars:
"I can understand everyone else's opinions about this movie... True, the script was a little messy... True the animation interaction with live action was quickly done... But all that is besides the greatness of this film: This movie remains one of my favorite movies of all time. WHY?
"Obviously there are hidden messages/images in this film.... The title "Cool World" is meant to be sarcastic. Holli seems to portray evil in the most appealing way. There is a lot of evil going on in the backround and foreground in this film throughout. Temptation (I believe) is the main subject, but there are other subjects tackled in the movie as well.
"If you have only seen this movie once, it deserves a second look. And if you still don't get the message, then I can only say that Cool World is a reflection of who people really are, and it is ironic that so many people seem to hate this film. You simply cannot compare this to Who Framed... -- that film was a typical Disney flick. Cool World is a satire of our society."
Although he only gives it three stars, "Gregorious" of San Jose intrigues us with his take on this movie:
"This movie scares me ... in the Blair Witch Project kind of scary. What it lacks in plot and scripting, it makes up for in atmosphere and creepiness. The 'wooden nickels' scene is an example of this: Some guy throws a handful of wooden nickels to some innocent kids, and the nickels proceed to open their mouths and devour the unsuspecting children. It's this kind of random, disturbing event that makes Cool World worth watching. This is a wierd movie for when you need to go on a major acid trip but you don't want to actually put drugs into your system. It is the movie to watch when you want to leave all reality and morality behind and think about what could happen if we could interact with cartoon characters in a cartoon world that, unlike the 'toontown' of Roger Rabbit, resembles our own world much more closely than we'd like to think."
None of the reviews we read made much reference to the Las Vegas scenes, but from the excerpts above, you can understand why this city was considered an appropriate location for a movie about temptation, fantasy, and evil.
