Watch now. A struggling young musician and devoted fan of Ricky Nelson wants to be just like his idol and become a rock star. The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century. On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a wizard and his faire folk comrades fight an evil wizard who's using technology in his bid for conquest.
At the end of the ice age, an evil queen and her son are set on conquering the world using magic and warriors. The lone survivor of a crushed village fights back as does the king of Fire Keep. A hypocritical swinging college student cat raises hell in a satiric vision of various elements on the s.
When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him An "underground" cartoonist contends with life in the inner city, where various unsavory characters serve as inspiration for his artwork.
Rabbit, a country-born trickster, takes over the organized crime racket in Harlem, facing opposition from the institutionalized racism of the Mafia and corrupt police. After surviving an invasion on her peaceful homeworld, a beautiful avenger must stop a powerful psychopath from gaining immortality and rescue her kidnapped sister. Fritz the Cat may have lost one of his lives in the comics, but in his new movie, he has eight more lives left to go! While his wife screams at him, Fritz lights up a joint and reminiscences about what could have been.
When cartoonist Jack Deebs was behind bars, he found escape by creating "Cool World", a cartoon series featuring a voluptuous femme fatale named Holli Would. But the cartoonist becomes a prisoner of his own fantasies when Holli transports Jack into Cool World with a scheme to seduce him and bring herself to life.
A hard-boiled detective--the only other human in Cool World--cautions Jack with the law: Noids humans don't have sex with doodles cartoons. However, the flesh proves weaker than ink as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas, staring in a trans-universal chase that threatens the destruction of both worlds. With a splashy combination of animation and live-action sequences, "Cool World" delivers the hottest action around. Animated films and cartoons have always been looked upon as an art form that caters primarily to a younger audience.
Though this may be an unfair assessment to make, it is a logical one, since the child-friendly Walt Disney Company has dominated the animated film industry right from its inception after introducing the world to Mickey Mouse in After that, there has only been a handful of daring artists who have tried to disengage the squeaky-clean stereotype that animated films had since been branded with.
Ralph Bakshi was such a man. The girls are sexy, the villains are ugly, and the backdrops have a surreal, almost psychedelic quality to them. The animators went to great lengths to make their characters' interactions with live actors and actual scenery seem genuine. Many subtle touches, like the cartoons casting real shadows in the Humanoid world, and the direct eye contact between the Noids and the Doodles, were added to enhance the believability of these otherwise unbelievable situations.
Still, despite the great animation and the artists' valiant efforts at making the two-dimensional animation intermingle with our three-dimensional universe, the movie's visuals, while very impressive, are ultimately ineffectual. No matter how well these images are drawn, their lack of depth makes the contact with the live actors seem awkward and even distracting at times. Granted, they did the best they could at combining two very different mediums, but no amount of detail can shake the feeling that you're merely watching a 2-D overlay atop of a 3-D film, rather than 2-D characters within a 3-D film as was intended.
The high point of the film, I think, was Kim Basinger's portrayal of Holli Would as she fervently attempts to adjust to Humanoid life. Basinger is suitably perky as the deviant Miss Would, and did an outstanding job emulating the actions and mannerisms of her cartoon counterpart. Basinger succeeds at making Holli's reactions to the Las Vegas public both hilarious and embarrassing for the viewer, a feat which is probably not easy to pull off.
Gabriel Byrne's performance as Jack Deebs is another example of fine acting in this film. Byrne's character, although probably not as scared or confused by his predicament as he should have been, is portrayed convincingly, and there's enough of a well-developed backstory to accept his antisocial attitude and somewhat pessimistic outlook on life. Byrne also handles Deebs's gradual transition from calm and collected to a state of panic and exasperation exceptionally well, and his sheepishness as he futilely attempts to disassociate himself with Holli and her embarrassingly eccentric behavior is another high point in the film.
This is not to say he did a bad job, but his performances tend to be bland and unmemorable, and this movie is no exception. The pacing is lightning fast, constantly jarring the viewer with over-the-top cartoon sight gags and playful innuendos. There are chase scenes, fight scenes, sex scenes, and death scenes; all seemingly back to back, and all set to an awesome adrenalin-pumping techno soundtrack. However, as exciting as the movie was, I couldn't help feeling gypped after finally seeing it.
Cool World, at least from my own personal interpretation, is devoid of any kind of theme or commentary whatsoever. But just because it isn't groundbreaking does not mean it isn't entertaining. Sign In. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
Full Cast and Crew. Release Dates. Official Sites. Company Credits. Technical Specs. Plot Summary. Plot Keywords. Parents Guide. External Sites. User Reviews. User Ratings. External Reviews. Metacritic Reviews. Photo Gallery. Trailers and Videos. Crazy Credits. Alternate Versions. Rate This. A comic strip femme fatale seeks to seduce her cartoonist creator in order to cross over into the real world. Director: Ralph Bakshi. Writers: Michael Grais , Mark Victor. Added to Watchlist.
From metacritic. What to Stream for Black History Month. All Brad Pitt Movies Ranked. On some levels. Share this Rating Title: Cool World 4. Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Learn more More Like This. Spicy City Animation Adventure Crime. An anthology of sexy and risque animated stories in a futuristic city with a seamy side. Johnny Suede Comedy Drama Music.
American Pop Animation Drama History. Wizards Animation Adventure Fantasy. Hey Good Lookin' Animation Comedy Drama. An outrageous, affectionate look at coming of age in the Eisenhower era in Brooklyn.
Fire and Ice Animation Fantasy Adventure. Fritz the Cat Across the Tracks Drama Sport. Heavy Traffic Coonskin Animation Action Comedy. Heavy Metal Animation Action Adventure. The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat Animation Comedy. Edit Cast Cast overview, first billed only: Janni Brenn Frank Harris William Frankfather