The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)

 
THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE has halves, one good, one 
bad.  Or, more accurately, one splendid, one dreadful.  The good 
half is also the first half, how convenient, so don't expect to 
walk out after walking in.  (That is, unless you're a non-fan of 
Moose and Squirrel, in which case all bets are off.)  Adjectives 
applicable to the first/good half:  zany, zippy, witty, knowing, 
lively paced, pun-intensive, fourth wall-breaking, cartoon sound 
effect-enhanced, self referential-as-all-get-out, Robert DeNiro-
even-more-amusing-than-living-visual-gag-Jason Alexander, worth-
the-price-of-admission-alone-just-to-hear-Rene-Russo-say-"Boris 
Dahlink."  Adjectives applicable to the second/bad half:  unfunny, 
uninspired, sluggish, stupidly silly, tediously torturous, why-
are-we-watching-a-helicopter-chasing-a-car-through-the-downtown 
Chicago?, please-pardon-my-retching-during-the-sickly-sentimental-
"message moment."  Now, here's the catch:  some of the stuff that 
sucks is *also* in the first half!  Like the appallingly miscast 
Piper Perabo, whose title character-accompanying FBI agent looks 
all of seventeen.  Or the (largely) pointless star cameos.  (Billy 
Crystal, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, etc.)  These things don't 
distract, much, because the good/first half really *is* that much 
fun.  (Sounds sorta like GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, no?  The last Jay 
Ward 'toon turned to film also started better than it ended.)  So, 
then what's the fail-safe point?  In what scene, during what se-
quence, at what tick of the butt-clock does gleaming gold turn to 
stinky moose milk?  I'd probably peg it at around the fifty minute 
mark, but, Hell, don't take my word for it.  Instead, at whatever
point you've stopped laughing for five or more minutes, just leave.
You won't miss a thing...  With Randy Quaid, Kel Mitchell, Kenan
Thompson, and a bunch of other cameos.  Des McAnuff (COUSIN BETTE)
directs.

Grade: C-

Copyright 2000 by Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: Rocky Bad Enough