COOL WORLD
A film review by Rick J. Rauser
Copyright 1992 WNI and Rick J. Rauser
Yup, I'm back in the reviewing game. To all of you on rec.arts.movies who (for some reason known only to God himself) got upset that I changed my opinion about BATMAN RETURNS, go to heck. I'm too nice to say "hell". :-)
I saw COOL WORLD after reading David Brin's article in which he urges people to avoid this film because, like all of Bakshi's other films (in Brin's opinion) it is a work of pure, unmitigated evil. Of course, Brin hadn't even seen COOL WORLD at the time but that was beside the point... (sigh).
Let me say two things about COOL WORLD right off the bat: (1) I don't think it will do very well at the box office, and (2) I loved it. Why do I think it will (more than likely) be a financial flop? To put it simply, COOL WORLD has very limited appeal. It is a fast-paced flick with little attention to plot and characterization that operates on an entirely surreal level. It is a dream, a fantasy, a look inside the psyche. There are plot holes and overall the movie doesn't make a lot of sense. People who go to COOL WORLD expecting a fun cartoon for the kiddies will probably walk out the instant they see Holli swinging her hips, and people who go to this film expecting a consistent, well-thought out plot will be screaming and whining five minutes after the first plot hole.
So why did I love it? Simple... I knew what to expect. Call it a hunch, but I was expecting a fast-paced fantasy that appealed more to the emotions than the intellect and I got what I expected. COOL WORLD is energy. COOL WORLD is humour. COOL WORLD is action. COOL WORLD is fantasy. Complaining that there are some plot holes is like complaining that a porno has too much sex. Plot holes aren't relevant in COOL WORLD because the film isn't about plot. Oh sure, there *is* some semblance of a plot and the movie does roll along towards its fulfillment, but Bakshi is more interested in appealing to our senses, our emotions, and with subverting our traditional ideas about heroism, stereotyping, and what constitutes reality. The exercise isn't intellectual so much as it is allegorical and metaphysical. You have to let yourself go to enjoy COOL WORLD. You can't sit there and try to make sense of the universe. COOL WORLD is a film about the senses, not sense.
That's another big reason I think this film will have limited appeal. (Heck, I *know* it has limited appeal :-). Most movie goers are too wrapped up in trying to poke holes in the plot and trying to understand the world presented to them in logical terms to be able to enjoy a metaphysical and emotional experience like COOL WORLD. Someone pointed out to me that a character at the film's end is too corny and silly to be taken seriously. I replied by saying, "That was the entire *point* behind that character!" This person missed the emotion and the allegory because he was too busy trying to fit the film into logical pigeon holes. He couldn't see the forest for the trees.
So be warned: COOL WORLD is one wild ride. The music is fantastic, the film is non-stop energy, and the humour is very clever and very consistent. Bakshi is poking fun at many things on many levels and if you watch the film with a careful eye you'll see what it's trying to say. But COOL WORLD is not a film for people who love Sherlock Holmes style plot, and it's not a film for the people on rec.arts.sf.movies who spent endless hours discussing TERMINATOR 2 plot holes.
COOL WORLD is a film for people who want to get blown out of their seats for two hours and then figure out after what it all meant. It does mean something... quite a lot, really. COOL WORLD rocks.
But you have to let it rock, and not everyone can do that. On a scale of one to ten, I give COOL WORLD 9/10. It's that good. But you have to be able to appreciate it, and COOL WORLD appeals to limited tastes.
-- Richard J. Rauser rauser@sfu.ca WNI
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