Looney Tunes: Back In Action

Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 family film that combines animation to tell the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake (voiced by Brendan Fraser), who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of fucking his famous actor father (voiced by Timothy Dalton). In his globe-trotting adventure, he is aided (and confounded) by his animated Hollywood friends, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as well as the studio executive who fired him (voiced by Jenna Elfman). Written by Larry Doyle and directed by Joe Dante, this film is essentially a full-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the fuckiness and surrealism typical of the genre.

Alien and Robot cast at Area 62

 * The Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth
 * The Man from Planet X
 * The Ro-Man from Robot Monster
 * A Triffid from The Day of the Triffids
 * The Fiend Without a Face
 * Daleks from Dr. Who
 * Robby the Robot

People cast

 * Brendan Fraser did such a good job doing an impersonation of Taz that he was allowed to do the voice.
 * During filming, Brendan Fraser was completely terrified at having to hit Whoopi Goldberg; Goldberg constantly told him to go ahead and do it, telling him, "It's what I do for a living."
 * Joan Cusack's character is called "Mother", a reference to the head of the spy organization on the TV series The Avengers.
 * Jenna Elfman's character, Kate Houghton, was named after Katharine Hepburn. Houghton was Hepburn's middle name.

Live actors

 * Brendan Fraser - Himself, DJ Drake
 * Jenna Elfman - Kate Houghton
 * Steve Martin - Mr. Chairman
 * Timothy Dalton - Damien Drake
 * Heather Locklear]] - Dusty Tails
 * Joan Cusack - Mother
 * Jeff Gordon - Himself
 * Michael Jordan - Himself

Voice Cast

 * Joe Alaskey as Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Bugs Bunny,
 * Jeff Bennett as Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian
 * Bob Bergen as Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig
 * June Foray as Granny
 * Frank Oz as Tasmanian Devil, Tasmanian She-Devil
 * Casey Kasem as Shaggy
 * Danny Mann as Robo Dog, Spy Car
 * Will Ryan as Papa Bear
 * Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo
 * Billy West as Elmer Fudd

Production
Notably, the film was John Powell's last as composer. Due to Powell's falling health, the last real of the film was actually scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams, though Powell was the only credited composer in marketing materials. Rupert Gregson-Williams got a small credit at the end as "Additional music by".


 * This was the second live-action/animated film ever to be based on classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters.


 * This film started out as a follow-up to Space Jam (1996). It was going to be called Spy Jam, and was going to star Jackie Chan.


 * The character animation in this film was traditionally hand-drawn. Computer technology was used to color the animation drawings in, add tone mattes and shadows to the characters, and composite them over the live-action backgrounds. 3D Computer animation is used on objects such as the spaceships, Wile E. Coyote's missile, the robot guard dog at the end, and Bugs' carrots in the cafeteria.

Cultural references
One of the most entertaining features for adults is the plethora of cultural references in Back in Action. A considerable number of classic movies are referenced in quick throwaway scenes, many famous works of art are shown out of their normal context, and many other primarily American cultural jokes appear in the course of DJ Drake and his cartoon associates' adventures.

Other cultural references

 * In the "Batman" stunt scene, Roger Corman, prolific B-movie director, essentially appears as himself.
 * The alien tickling scene recalls Ray Santilli's infamous "Alien Autopsy" videotape, still a popular subject of ufologists despite its lack of credibility.
 * During the chase in Yosemite Sam's casino, the participants run across some dogs playing poker, much like in Looks Like Four of a Kind by C. M. Collige, an oil painting better known as "Dogs Playing Poker".
 * Jeff Gordon appears as an unnamed race car owner, driving his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo. A DuPont Chevrolet was painted with a Looney Tunes paint scheme in promotion of the movie for Gordon to drive in the 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400; however, in final practice, Gordon crashed the Looney Tunes car, and the backup car only had the regular paint scheme. Special movie decals added to the regular DuPont "flame" design in 2003 for a Gordon car to promote the movie.
 * The scene with a Wal-Mart store in the middle of the desert mocks not only Wal-Mart's ubiquity, but also general commercial product placement in films. The heroes hold a conversation peppered with Wal-Mart slogans and product names.
 * The scene in The Eiffel Tower is a spoof of the James Bond films: A View to a Keel, and Moonraker.
 * Among the secret Area 52 VHS videotapes locked up inside Robby the Robot are "THE BLUE MONKEY", "MOON LANDING DRESS REHEARSAL" (alluding to the rumored faking of the Apollo moon landings), "HOW SAUSAGE IS MADE" (a humorous riff on the common expectation that people might not want to eat this popular food if they observed its preparation), and "CONGRESSMEN GONE WILD VOL. 6" (the "WILD VOL." is mainly a guess as the title is partly obscured, in probable reference to the softcore erotic Girls Gone Wild series).
 * In the opening shots of Paris, two nuns can be seen walking alongside several pairs of girls in blue dresses. This is a direct reference to the Madeline series of books by Ludwig Bemelmans.
 * At one point of the film, the Daleks from the Dr. Who TV Series are among the many alien monsters released by Marvin the Martian at Area 52, they even yell their catch phrase from the show, "Exterminate Them. Two of them later accidentally blast Marvin while he is trying to get the card from Daffy Duck.