Looney Tunes: Back in Action (also known as Looney Tunes Back in Action: The Movie) is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by Larry Doyle. The live-action animated film stars Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin, with Timothy Dalton, Joan Cusack, and Heather Locklear in supporting roles. A parody of action and spy films, the plot follows Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as they become intertwined in a plot by the Acme Corporation's chairman to transform the world's population into subservient monkeys using the Blue Monkey diamond, joining aspiring stuntman DJ Drake and Warner Bros. executive Kate Houghton on their journey while also seeking to rescue the former's abducted father, Damian.
The film was the result of multiple attempts by Warner Bros. Pictures to develop a sequel to Space Jam (1996). It was originally developed as Spy Jam, which was intended to star Jackie Chan in the lead role. Dante, out of a personal dislike for Space Jam, substantially reworked the project to more closely represent the original personalities of the Looney Tunes characters, with Walt Disney Animation Studios animator Eric Goldberg serving as animation director. However, Dante reportedly had little creative control on the project, and the final film became different from what he intended. The film was the last project by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and the final film scored by composer and Dante collaborator Jerry Goldsmith, who died eight months following its release; John Debney composed additional score material.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action premiered on November 9, 2003, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 14. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office failure, grossing $68.5 million on an $80 million budget. Due to the film's financial failure, Warner Bros. subsequently canceled several planned Looney Tunes projects, including new theatrical short films. At the 31st Annie Awards, the film was nominated for four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature.
Plot
Weary of playing antagonist roles in Bugs Bunny's films, Daffy Duck demands his own animated film, only to be fired by Warner Bros.' Vice President of Comedy, Kate Houghton. Security guard and aspiring stuntman DJ Drake is ordered to escort Daffy from the studio, but Daffy escapes and the water tower is destroyed in the ensuing chase, resulting in DJ's firing. Daffy follows DJ home, where the latter receives a message from his father, actor Damian Drake, whom DJ learns is a secret agent. Damian tells DJ to travel to Las Vegas, contact his associate Dusty Tails and find the "Blue Monkey" diamond before he gets captured by the Acme Corporation, led by Mr. Chairman. DJ and Daffy depart for Las Vegas.
Bugs' routines fail without Daffy, so Kate is ordered to rehire Daffy or face termination herself. Kate and Bugs arrive at DJ's house, where they find and use Damian's TVR Tuscan in pursuit of DJ and Daffy. In Las Vegas, DJ and Daffy meet Dusty in a casino owned by Yosemite Sam, who is employed by Acme. Dusty gives them a unique playing card, which provides a clue to finding the diamond, before Sam and his henchmen, Nasty Canasta and Cottontail Smith, steal Jeff Gordon's car to pursue DJ and Daffy for the card, but they escape with Bugs and Kate aboard the Tuscan taking flight. When the Tuscan crashes in a desert, the group camps out for the night while Bugs fails to convince Daffy to take his job back, with the latter revealing he envies Bugs for being so popular with so little effort. The next day, after the group finds Walmart, Wile E. Coyote tries in vain to steal the card from the group.
The group eventually discovers Area 52, run by a woman known as Mother, who shows them a short film about the Blue Monkey, which can devolve humans into monkeys. She then equips the group with spy gadgets for their mission. Marvin the Martian, imprisoned in the facility, leads a group of other imprisoned aliens to try to steal the card, but the group escapes. Seeing the Mona Lisa's face on the card, the group conclude they must view the painting in the Louvre in Paris.
At the Louvre, the group discover that the card contains a viewing window for the Mona Lisa and use it to discover a hidden map of Africa. Elmer Fudd appears and chases Bugs and Daffy through several paintings to obtain the card. Meanwhile, Kate is kidnapped by Beaky Buzzard and Smith, Mr. Chairman's bodyguard. DJ rescues Kate, while Elmer disintegrates into tiny dots after emerging from a pointillist painting.
The group travels to Africa and meet Granny, Sylvester and Tweety, who escort them to the ruins of a jungle temple containing the Blue Monkey. There, Granny and company reveal themselves to be Mr. Chairman, Smith and Taz in disguise. Mr. Chairman teleports everyone to Acme and tricks DJ into giving him the diamond in exchange for Damian's release, with him going back on his word once the diamond is in his hands.
Marvin is sent to place the diamond in an Acme satellite's ray gun; with it, Mr. Chairman plans to turn everyone on the planet but himself into monkeys to make his products before reversing the effects so they can purchase them. DJ and Kate face off against a robotic dog and rescue Damian from one of Wile E. Coyote's death traps, while Bugs and Daffy chase Marvin into space. Marvin battles Bugs while Daffy becomes Duck Dodgers to stop the ray gun. Bugs manages to fight back and defeats Marvin by plugging his finger into his gun, imprisoning him inside his own bubble. Daffy uses his own bill to compress the ray gun's blast into two smaller ones through his nostrils. One of them reaches Earth and transforms Mr. Chairman into a monkey, leading to his arrest. Bugs and Daffy return to Earth, where it is revealed that the preceding events were staged. Bugs promises Daffy they will be equal partners, just before the latter is flattened by the Looney Tunes rings. Porky Pig attempts to close the film with "That's all, folks!", but the studio closes before he could say it, much to his indignation.
Cast Live-action cast Brendan Fraser as Damian "D. J." Drake Jr. Himself Jenna Elfman as Kate Houghton Steve Martin as Mr. Chairman Heather Locklear as Dusty Tails Timothy Dalton as Damian Drake Sr. Joan Cusack as Mother Bill Goldberg as Mr. Smith Marc Lawrence as Acme VP, Stating the Obvious Bill McKinney as Acme VP, Nitpicking George Murdock as Acme VP, Unfairly Promoted Ron Perlman as Acme VP, Never Learning Robert Picardo as Acme VP, Rhetorical Questions Leo Rossi as Acme VP, Climbing to the Top Vernon G. Wells as Acme VP, Child Labor Mary Woronov as Acme VP, Bad Ideas Don Stanton as Mr. Warner Dan Stanton as Mr. Warner's brother Archie Hahn as Stunt Director Dick Miller as Security Chief (cameo) Roger Corman as Hollywood Director (cameo) Jeff Gordon as Himself (cameo) Matthew Lillard as Himself (cameo) Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell (cameo) Peter Graves as Civil Defense Film Host (cameo, uncredited) Michael Jordan as Himself (cameo via archive footage from Space Jam, uncredited)
Voice cast Joe Alaskey as: Bugs Bunny Daffy Duck Beaky Buzzard Sylvester Harrietta Bear Jeff Bennett as: Daffy Duck ("woo-hoos") (uncredited) Yosemite Sam Foghorn Leghorn Nasty Canasta Billy West as: Bugs Bunny (screams) (uncredited) Elmer Fudd Peter Lorre The Scream (uncredited) Eric Goldberg as: Bugs Bunny (one line) (uncredited) Tweety Bird Marvin the Martian Speedy Gonzales Bruce Lanoil as Pepé Le Pew June Foray as Granny Bob Bergen as Porky Pig Brendan Fraser as: Tasmanian Devil Tasmanian She-Devil Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo Danny Chambers as Cottontail Smith Stan Freberg as Junior Bear Will Ryan as Henry Bear Danny Mann as: Robo Dog Spy Car Mel Blanc as Gremlin Car (archive recordings) Paul Julian as Road Runner (archive recordings) (uncredited) Bill Roberts as Michigan J. Frog (archive recordings) (uncredited) Jackie Morrow as Owl Jolson (archive recordings) (uncredited) David Graham, Peter Hawkins – Dalek voices (archive recordings) (uncredited)
Production Development
Looney Tunes: Back in Action was initially developed as a direct sequel to Space Jam (1996). As development began, the film's plot was going to involve a new basketball competition with Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters against a new alien villain named Berserk-O!. Bob Camp was tasked with designing Berserk-O! and his two henchmen. Joe Pytka would have returned to direct and Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone signed on as the animation supervisors. However, Jordan did not agree to star in a sequel. According to Camp, a producer lied to the studio, claiming Jordan had signed onto the film in order to start pre-production. Without Jordan involved with the project, Warner Bros. Pictures was uninterested and cancelled plans for Space Jam 2.
The film then re-entered development as a spy film titled Spy Jam, which was to star Jackie Chan. Warner Bros. was planning an additional film titled Race Jam, which would have starred racing driver Jeff Gordon. After both projects were ultimately cancelled, Warner Bros. eventually asked Joe Dante to direct Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In the early 1990s, Dante planned to direct a biographical comedy film with HBO called Termite Terrace, which centered around Looney Tunes animator Chuck Jones' early years at Warner Bros. Cartoons in the 1930s. On the project, Dante recalled, "It was a hilarious story and it was very good except that Warner Bros. said, 'Look, it's an old story. It's got period stuff in it. We don't want that. We want to rebrand our characters and we want to do Space Jam.
Dante agreed to direct Back in Action as a tribute to Jones. He and writer Larry Doyle reportedly wanted the film to be the "anti-Space Jam", as Dante disliked how that film represented the Looney Tunes brand and personalities. Dante said, "I was making a movie for them with those characters [Looney Tunes: Back in Action] and they did not want to know about those characters. They didn't want to know why Bugs Bunny shouldn't do hip-hop. It was a pretty grim experience all around." Warner Bros. hired Walt Disney Feature Animation's Eric Goldberg, known for his fast-paced, Warner Bros.-inspired animation of the Genie in Aladdin (1992), to direct the animation.
Casting