Cool World arrived on home video this week in 1993, after a June 19th, 1992 theatrical release.
Ralph Bakshi’s always been the guy who revelled in showing us the dirty side of the animation cell. Fritz The Cat, Coonskin, Hey Good Lookin’… he gave us the gritty biographical stuff that made Disney spin in his grave and Tex Avery look like pablum. But Cool World… I can’t help but love the movie it could have been.
I became a late-in-the-game Bakshi obsessive with Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures Saturday morning cartoon in the late 80s. There was no mistaking who was in charge, his name was plastered on every title card. Like the new Beanie and Cecil, Mighty Mouse had a chaotic punk rock energy that roped me in something fierce. I later found out the creative team included legends like John K. and others that would go on to shape Ren and Stimpy, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.
But Cool World landed very differently. Paramount expected Who Framed Roger Rabbit with an edge, but ended up with a dirtier Howard the Duck.
The problem wasn’t the concept. Live-action meets animation with a noir twist? That’s where Bakshi lives. The problem was the studio tug-of-war that gutted the story. What could’ve been a psychedelic reflection on lust, art, and obsession turned into a hollow popcorn shell with Brad Pitt attempting his best nineteenfortyfifty gumshoe and Kim Basinger hamming it up as a sexpot doodle.
Bakshi wanted something darker, more subversive. If you squint, can still see the ghost of his vision hiding in the final film. But Paramount wanted something marketable, so we got this bizarre compromise that pleased few critics and even fewer movie goers. Not sleazy enough for adults, not funny enough for kids. But lately, and thankfully, it’s been re-appraised for sheer ambition.
It’s not at all bad, though. The animation is pure Bakshi – twisted, anarchic, always in motion. He still knew how to make ‘toons feel alive. I gladly revisit it once in a while. Maybe I’m a sucker for ink and paint sleaze, or maybe I just keep hoping I’ll see the movie Bakshi wanted to make, hiding somewhere between the keyframes.