Have a good day at work, dear. Remember, don’t use your fountain pen!
Jack Deebs, master cartoonist and criminal doing his time, discovers that he’s more than just a cartoonist in Cool World (1992), he finds that he can build a bridge to his imaginary realm that he calls Cool World – and it’s reaching out to grab him. Some of its inhabitants, for all of their cartoonish ways and sometimes wacky powers, resent the limitations placed on them, primarily that, physically, they can’t really feel anything.
But Deebs can fix all that by letting them get into the real world.
Frank Harris is standing in the way, though. Deebs is not the first human to find himself transported to this crazed world, where the craze may come from conditions rather than the drawing. Harris, years before, was involved in a horrific accident and, in self-defense, sought refuge in Cool World. Now he’s a private dick, tracking down cartoon criminals, and holding off the amours of his cartoon love. Sex between human and cartoon is forbidden, you see – why, we’re not sure.
And at the center of the vortex is Holli Would, Deebs’ dream cartoon woman, whose own dream is to escape the hell of Cool World for the real world, where she can do and scheme and feel, all without the constraints of whoever it was that really created Cool World. Crossing the bridge that is Deebs, her seduction of Deebs effects her escape, meaning that now Harris must decide if his duty calls him back to the world he escape all those years ago.
And, if so, if he can even find Would.
This hybrid animated / live action presentation has its charms, but the plot creaks. The problem with fantasy is that a fantasy without rules, or with poorly formulated rules, tends to feel like a series of rabbits pulled out of a hat, each one grungier than the last, and that’s how this feels. How did Harris really get to Cool World? It’s unconvincing, as is Deebs’ transport. Why would any man be attracted to these cartoon ladies? None appeal at an emotional or intellectual level, and physically they’re too outlandish.
Add in that the cartoon sequences are infested with distractions, the acting is less than stellar, and the point of the plot is not truly compelling, and it becomes an unmemorable addition to this hybrid genre.
