The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

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The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Directed by Des McAnuff
Produced by Robert De Niro
Jane Rosenthal
Written by Jay Ward (characters)
Kenneth Lonergan
Starring Rene Russo
Jason Alexander
Piper Perabo
Randy Quaid
Robert De Niro
June Foray (voice)
Keith Scott (voice)
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography Thomas E. Ackerman
Editing by Dennis Virkler
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Tribeca
Release date(s) June 30, 2000
Running time 88 min.
Country Flag of the United States
Language English
Budget $76 million
Gross revenue $35,143,820
Preceded by Rocky and His Friends
The Bullwinkle Show
Boris and Natasha: The Movie
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was a critically and financially unsuccessful movie released in 2000 based on the television cartoon The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show by Jay Ward. The animated characters Rocky and Bullwinkle shared the screen with live actors portraying Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander), Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo), and FBI agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo).

Contents

[edit] Plot

In 1964, the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show went off air and life became very depressing for Rocky and Bullwinkle. Their home is in deforestation, the Narrator of the old show lives with his mother narrating the events of his life, and the duo gain poor checks from re-runs of the show. In Pottsylvania, Fearless Leader, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are having tough times too, due to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the people becoming free. But Fearless Leader develops a plan and digs all the way to live-action Los Angeles where they goad an executive Minny Mogul to produce the Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie, and they come "attached with the project", being pulled out the cartoon world and becoming humans.

Six months on, FBI agent Karen Sympathy and her boss Cappy von Trapment visit President Signoff and inform him that Fearless Leader has bought up the entire cable network of America and will air his own network called RBTV - or Really Bad Television, which will be able to hypnotize the civilians into voting him as president. Cappy sends Karen to summon Rocky and Bullwinkle in order to save America. Karen succeeds in summoning them using a special green lighthouse. Now Rocky and Bullwinkle (and the unseen Narrator) journey with Karen across America to New York City to save the country. However, things do not go incredibly well as Boris and Natasha pursue them. In the progress, their car is crashed, Karen steals the villains' truck and she then gets arrested by a Oklahoma state trooper (John Goodman). Rocky and Bullwinkle carry on their own.

The two eventually hitch a ride to Wossamotta U., Bullwinkle's old university where he was a football player, with help from Martin and Lewis. Bullwinkle is given an Honorary Mooster's Degree, thanks to the schemes of Boris who plans to disintegrate the moose using the CDI (computer-degenerating imagery), a special character-destroying laptop. Rocky manages to fly after many years of failure and saves Bullwinkle. Martin and Lewis lend the two their car, which Bullwinkle uses to drive through Chicago to escape Boris and Natasha who pursue them in a helicopter, which is destroyed by the CDI. Rocky, Bullwinkle and Karen are reunited, Karen having broke out of jail thanks to a lovesick Swedish prison guard named Ole. The three end up in court for their crimes, but Judge Cameo (Whoopi Goldberg) is shocked to see Rocky and Bullwinkle, that she dismisses the case.

The trio buy an old bi-plane from Old Jeb and head off to New York, but too much weight causes the trio to split, Bullwinkle flying off in the plane to Washington D.C. to speak with the President about the trees in Frostbite Falls. Rocky and Karen arrive in New York to find the whole city is zombified. The two enter RBTV HQ but are captured and turned into vegetable-like humans, as were three other FBI agents. Bullwinkle, with help from Cappy, e-mails himself to New York and disrupts Fearless Leader's presidential election broadcast. A fight breaks out which leads the villains to be defeated. Bullwinkle addresses America advising them to switch off their televisions and vote for who they want to win the election. Bullwinkle accidentally activates the CDI and blasts Fearless Leader, Boris and Natasha to the internet. In the end, RBTV becomes Rocky and Bullwinkle Television, Signoff wins the election, the narrator is reunited with his mother, and Karen ends up dating Ole. The film ends with Bullwinkle commenting on how he enjoyed their trip "to New York to meet President Washington!". A cartoon teaser shows Rocky and Bullwinkle being chased by Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader who not only to catch the heros but are sqashed flat as well by a falling sign {echoes of teasers of Fractured Fairy Tales!}

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

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  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is referenced as one of Fearless Leader's minions asks him, "What about Roger Rabbit?", when Fearless Leader states there has never been a way to actually kill off a cartoon. Fearless Leader shouts afterwards, "This is completely different!"
  • The University infirmary is labeled "J. Ward", a homage to Rocky and Bullwinkle creator, Jay Ward.
  • Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro) says to Boris & Natasha "You talkin' to me?...There's no one else here, so you must be talking to me". This is a reference to his most famous lines in Taxi Driver.
  • Director Cameo: Des McAnuff The first person to turn off their TV after Bullwinkle's speech.
  • The businesses lining the highways have some rather unusual names. Among them are "Lotta Room Motel", "Pump Her Up" (gas station), "Beefy Buns" (fast food), and (glimpsed briefly through the driver's window of the truck) "Boob Mart".
  • The name of Bullwinkle's alma mater is Whassamatta U. This university was actually featured in the original cartoons, though its exact location was never given; the film places it in Illinois.
  • This film was originally in pre-production in the early 1990s, with Danny DeVito and Meryl Streep set to play Boris and Natasha. Legal problems with copyrights prevented the film being made until several years later.
  • The students in the film were actually real students of Chapman University, where part of the film takes place.
  • June Foray, one of the surviving members of the original "Rocky and His Friends" (1959), who created the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, does Rocky's voice for this film. She also recreates the voice of Natasha (when Natasha is in cartoon form) and her ubiquitous "old woman" voice from the old series as the voice of the narrator's mother.
  • For the narration, Keith Scott is doing an imitation of the voice of the late William Conrad, who had been the narrator for the original animated adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, "Rocky and His Friends".
  • When Bullwinkle is surfing the Internet, ads for real companies and products are shown, including Travelodge, Best Buy, Nokia, Milky Way bar, PetSmart, and AOL.

[edit] Reception

The movie proved unpopular with audiences, grossing only $6,814,270 in its opening weekend. After grossing $26,005,820 domestically with an overseas gross of $9,129,000, it totaled a worldwide gross of $35,134,820, well short of its budget of $76 million. [1] This makes the film one of the biggest box office bombs in history (the studio typically receives half the box office gross), with studio losses of over $80 million (when its production cost is combined with its estimated marketing expense of $22.6 million).

Critics noted that though the movie retained the style and spirit of the classic cartoons, it wasn't nearly as funny or engaging as the original cartoon series. The Tomatometer rating for the movie at Rotten Tomatoes is at 42%.

The film was nominated for two Saturn Awards, Alexander for Best Supporting Actor and Russo for Best Supporting Actress. Russo was also nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst Supporting Actress.

[edit] Animated Credits

In the end credits, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader, in their original animated designs against a black background, fight for control of the credits and alternatively display each of the major credits as if they are turning a revolving wall panel with the credits printed on it. Then the end credits begin to change on their own while the characters chase each other in varying combinations. Then the minor end credits begin to scroll up normally with one last display of Rocky and Bullwinkle seated and waving to the audience.

[edit] Trailer

The Trailer and the Commercials for the film shown alternative scenes or scenes that were in the movie, but the audio was dubbed over;

  • Bullwinkle looking right into the camera and exclaims "WHASSSUUUUUUP?". This scene is missing completely from the movie.
  • When the car flies, Bullwinkle yells, "I'm king of the world!" In the film there is complete silence as the car goes over the river.
  • When Bullwinkle "lands" the plane in Washington, D.C. he says, "I'd like to use one of my lifelines please!" In the film, he mentions that he "couldn't find the brakes."
  • A part with Karen Sympathy tells Rocky, "Rocket J. Squirrel, America needs you!" is not included in the film.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Characters
Locations
Story Arcs
Voice Talent
Supporting Features
Other Jay Ward Productions
Films
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle • Boris and Natasha: The Movie
Languages