The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Released in 2000 and directed by Des McAnuff, "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" is a live action cartoon based on the early 60's animated show. Rocky and Bullwinkle are CGI (voiced by June Foray and Keith Scott) while Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader are played by actors (Jason Alexander, Rene Russo and Robert De Niro respectively). Piper Perabo stars as a klutzy, sympathetic FBI agent who's assigned to bring Rocky and Bullwinkle into the real world and bring them across the country in order to stop the diabolic scheme of Fearless leader to hypnotize the American populace through RBTV (Really Bad TV), compelling them to elect him as president. Numerous actors are featured in peripheral roles or cameos, like Randy Quaid, James Rebhorn, Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman, Jonathan Winters, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, amongst others.To enjoy a movie like this you have to be willing to enter into its goofy world and roll with it. If you can do that, it has its amusing moments and is noticeably better than "Dudley Do-Right" (1999), but it's nowhere close the quality of the "The Flintstones" (1994) or its almost-as-good sequel, "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas," which was released two months before "Rocky and Bullwinkle." The original Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show was never as popular as The Flintstones show and this might've contributed to the movie flopping at the box office, but its main problem is that it's overall mediocre despite its undeniable fun energy.This was Perabo's second feature film and her first in a major role. She's the main protagonist and pretty much carries the movie, which is surprising in light of her lack of experience up to this point. Later the same year she starred in the semi-iconic, but shallow, "Coyote Ugly."The satirization of the lamestream media's power to dupe people into supporting a dubious candidate (or vilify another) is well done and reflects reality. How else could someone like HeyLIARy Rotten Clinton get so many votes? (Disregarding the millions of fraudulent "votes," of course). The film runs 92 minutes and was shot mostly in California, but also Washington DC and New York.GRADE: C+

For much of my life, I knew nothing about Rocky and Bullwinkle. In fact I never knew until I read about cartoons with similar styles, and some of the actors of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show.Many years after the characters made a name of themselves in a 1960s TV series, some people who probably liked the show a lot decided to give Rocky and Bullwinkle an encore through this film. Had the film been commercially successful, the franchise would have been revived to a great degree. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as the movie bombed at the box office.Because I'm hardly a fan of the 1960s show, what become of the feature film almost doesn't mean anything to me. But if I were fan, I'd probably beg the filmmakers to make another film. And to make the film more appealing to moviegoers, my advise to the filmmakers would be that they should use a young boy to perform the role of Rocky.

In 1964, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show is canceled. Thirty five years later, Rocky and Bullwinkle's world is crumbling. Rocky doesn't even fly anymore. With the fall of the Iron Curtan, Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander), and Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) go underground and dig their way to Hollywood. Studio executive Minnie Mogul signs a contract with the trio attached to the project which gets them pulled into the real world. They are buying up all the cable channels to broadcast RBTV (Really Bad TeleVision) and hypnotize the country. FBI agent Karen Sympathy (Piper Perabo) is sent to get Rocky and Bullwinkle to take down the villains.This movie keeps to the spirit of goofy humor of the original TV show. It is full of the sly comedy and sarcastic references. I would have liked all the characters from the cartoon to remain in their 2 dimensional animated look. It's probably a mistake to have real actors play the cartoon villains. No matter how hard the three actors try, they can never get the cartoon feeling into their characters. They feel flat and rather tiresome. Piper Perabo is adorable and works well with Rocky and Bullwinkle. However she gets separated from them and the chemistry dissipates. It's a simple road trip movie and should be a lot easier than this.

Just hearing De Nero reprise one of his most famous lines is worth the viewing - great cast, same bad puns, outrageous story lines, the stern voiced narrator, mix of wit, low humor, physical humor, and satire that made the TV show a classic. I think Jay Ward would approve... The only things missing are the Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and of course Dudley Dooright (who got his own movie). Those who panned this movie should be banished to Pottsylvania and forced to watch the Smurf Movie for 93 hours straight. Finally see how Piper Perabo cut her teeth with the FBI before jumping to the CIA on the USA Network