Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Entry updated 8 June 2026. Tagged: Film.
US live action-animated film (2003). Warner Brothers. Directed by Joe Dante. Written by Larry Doyle. Cast includes Timothy Dalton, Jenny Elfman, Brandon Fraser, Heather Locklear, and Steve Martin. Voice cast includes Joe Alaskey, Jeff Glenn Bennett, June Foray, Eric Goldberg, and Billy West. 91 minutes. Colour.
This continuation of the beloved Warner Bros. Cartoons features their most iconic characters, Bugs Bunny (Alaskey) and Daffy Duck (Alaskey), along with appearances by most of the other stars from the cartoons. The film of course is primarily a Fantasy, though it incorporates elements of sf. The evil head of Acme Corporation (Martin), aided by Wile E Coyote, Marvin the Martian (Goldberg), Yosemite Sam (Bennett), and Elmer Fudd (West), is seeking to obtain the Blue Monkey diamond so he can use it to employ Technology to transform everyone in the world into compliant blue monkeys. His efforts are primarily opposed by Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and two human allies, stuntman DJ Drake (Fraser) and studio executive Kate Houghton (Elfman), who are also striving to rescue Drake's abducted father Damian Drake (Dalton). A highlight is a scene where there is a visit to Area 52, where the government is holding robots from sf productions (Robot Monster, Forbidden Planet and Doctor Who) as well as the Aliens from The Man from Planet X, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Fiend Without a Face. Providing a detailed summary of the film's silly plot seems unnecessary, but there is a concluding sequence in outer space of sf interest in which Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in his persona as Duck Dodgers battle against Marvin the Martian. Needless to say, the good guys prevail in the end.
Though many commentators found the film delightful, it was not a box-office success, cancelling immediate plans for other Looney Tunes movies. The problem is perhaps that director Dante was determined to precisely replicate the spirit and contents of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1940s and 1950s; as a result, there are jokes and knowing references in the film that would not have been understood by younger viewers, such as Bugs Bunny imitating Groucho Marx and posters in France advertising Jerry Lewis movies. Despite its perceived failure, the film did inspire two Videogames. [GW]
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