Looney Tunes: Back in Action

2003 film directed by Joe Dante

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) is a feature-length Looney Tunes adventure combining live action and animation about a hapless stuntman, aided (and confounded) by his animated Hollywood friends Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and a studio executive, who stumble across a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father.

Directed by Joe Dante. Written by Larry Doyle.
Real life has never been so animated.taglines

DialogueEdit

[Porky and Speedy in the cafeteria]
Porky: At first, they told me to lose the stutter. Now they tell me I'm not funny! It's a pain in the butt being... [stutters] ...politically correct.
Speedy: You're telling me.
[Scooby-Doo and Shaggy chat with Matthew Lillard in the cafeteria]
Shaggy: What kind of performance do you call that? You made me sound like a total space cadet, man!
Matthew Lillard: I'm sorry you feel that way. I was just trying to be real to your character.
Shaggy: If you, like, goof on me in the sequel, I'm comin' after ya!
Scooby: Yeah! And I'll give you a Scooby Snarl! [growls viciously at him]

Bugs Bunny: [coughing and groaning while all bandaged up from Elmer's gunshot] Oh! Oh pain! Oh agony!
[Kate sighs with an embarrassed smile as the Warner Bros. look at her calming but in disgust]
Warner Bro.#2: You’re fired.
[Kate in disbelief and horror while trying to explain]
Warner Bro.#1: [cutting off her sentence] You got rid of our best duck.

Bugs Bunny: [while playing dead]: Doesn’t anyone knock anymore?
Kate Houghton: [aggravated]: Why are you torturing me? What have I ever done that… [before she can say anything, she seeing posters of Damien Drake and a picture of both him and his son D.J. in front of the Warner Bros. Studio and she quickly gets her answer] Great. I just fired the son of our biggest star. This has been a career making day, Kate. First you get rid of the Duck that everybody hates, but then, of course, they all want him back. [Bugs appears in a knight’s armor with a sly, arrogant and narrow look and smile upon her confession her wrongdoings and saying that he was right from the start about the bad decision she made and should’ve kept Daffy before she begins to tears up] And worst of all, you get into a big fight with Bugs Bunny… [these words soon cause Bugs to lose his mischievousness and turns surprise and wonders with thought] who you revere, and who you've tried to model your life after.
[Her words were finally enough to make Bugs' eyes turn all puppy like and begins to tear up as he rises out of the armor as one of his tears role down one of his whiskers]
Bugs: [finally unable to bare it any longer] Oh, I hate to see a grown man cry! [acts sarcastic to audience] Especially when it's a girl.

Bugs Bunny: You’ve got no music in your soul sister.
Kate Houghton: I am aware of that, yes.
Bugs Bunny: He sure went for all the extras. What a maroon.
Kate Houghton: Don’t touch anything. This Damien Drake's car…
[Before she could finish, Bugs presses a button with a bomb, causing a missile to launch out of the rear and blows up around a valley area]

[D.J. and Daffy Duck drive to Las Vegas.]
D.J.: I'm not a security guard! For your information, it's just a job. It's what I do for money.
Daffy: Um-hmm.
D.J.: What I really do is...I'm...I'm a...I'm a stuntman.
Daffy: Hah! You, a stuntman? Please!
D.J.: I am! Did you see those Mummy movies? I'm in them more than Brendan Fraser is. [Daffy rolls his eyes, complete with cartoon sound effect] Oh, no, you couldn't stand that! One day, he decides to say, "No-no-no! The Bren-Master does all his own stunts"!

[We get our first view of the ACME boardroom and its members]
Chairman: This is unacceptable! We cannot have nine-year-olds working in sweatshops making ACME sneakers, not when three-year-olds work for so much less! [the VPs jump for their buzzers. VP Child Labor hits his first. The Chairman points to him] Yes?
VP Child Labor: But, sir. They require naps.
Chairman: Put double espresso in their sippy cups!

[At the Wooden Nickel, diva Dusty Tails changes while she talks about her career.]
Dusty: I also work for the Agency. Professional assassin. It's really hard for me to juggle the two sometimes. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I have kids! [comes out wearing a shiny black-leather catsuit] Do you know how hard it is to find a nanny with advanced weapons training?
Daffy: [gives a wolf-whistle then his usual whoo hoo] How many galoshes died to make that little number?

[D.J. tries to take the Mona Lisa Queen of Diamonds playing card from Dusty, who instead slips it inside her outfit]
Dusty: That is so sweet! You, trying to take over for your father. These evil forces, they're bad people!
Daffy: Relax, sister! I don't know the meaning of the word "fear"! [opens the door and finds himself facing a lit cannon with Sam and his henchmen]
Yosemite Sam: Say your prayers, Duck!
Daffy: "Fear: Noun. A state of terror". AAH!

[Yosemite Sam chases D.J. and Daffy through the Wooden Nickel casino, guns a-blazin']
Yosemite Sam: Come back here, ya card-carryin' cuy-ote! [and slips on a banana peel] Yikes! Ooooh! Dad-burned slapstick cliché!

Foghorn Leghorn: [to D.J.] Card, sir?
D.J.: Hit me.
Foghorn Leghorn: Don't-I say, don't 'cha wanna look at your cards first, son? Boy's 'bout as sharp as a bowlin' ball.

[Daffy and D.J. finally escape the Wooden Nickel]
Daffy: I say we do Cirque de Soleil and call it a night. [D.J. makes a mad dash for his car] How 'bout the Liberace Museum? All right, let's see what this baby can really do. [suddenly the car sputters and turns to pieces from all the long driving] Now that's an interesting feature.

[Kate and Bugs drive through the streets of Las Vegas, looking for Daffy]
Kate: There's gotta be 314 hotels and 142 casinos in Las Vegas! We are never gonna find that duck.
[Suddenly, Daffy runs into the street and is promptly plastered onto the windshield. Kate gasps and Bugs laughs]
Bugs: Hee-hee. Daff never misses a cue. [D.J. arrives, peels off Daffy, and tosses him into the back seat, upside down, next to Bugs] Eh, what's up, Duck?
Daffy: Don't you start with me.
[D.J. notices Kate in the driver's seat of the car]
D.J.: You!
Kate: You!
Daffy: [to Bugs] You!
Bugs: Him?
Daffy: Her!
Bugs and Daffy: Them!
Sam: [driving fast]: Out of my way! [He crashes a clothes stand then he and his henchmen are seen wearing clothes from the stand crash] Dagnabbit!

[Driving alongside the good guys, Nasty Canasta lights a stick of dynamite to throw into their car]
Kate: Dynamite?! Who has dynamite?!
Daffy: [scoffs] Welcome to my world.

[The good guys take off, leaving the bad guys with the lit dynamite.]
Yosemite Sam: Throw it out the window! Throw it out! Throw it out!
Canasta: But innocent people could be hurt.
Yosemite Sam: Throw it out the window!
Smith: It'll send the wrong message to children!
Yosemite Sam: Throw it out the-! [dynamite explodes in front of them] Ooh!

[D.J., Kate, Bugs, and Daffy approach a dead end]
Bugs: Eh, just a suggestion, but all those in favor of not hittin' that wall, say "aye".
D.J. and Kate: AYE!
Daffy: Mother!
Spy car computer: Taking you to Mother!
[The car takes to the sky before it can hit the wall]

[Just before the heroes' flying car crashes, it stops a few feet above the desert ground]
Bugs: Ha. Outta gas.
[Fade to black]
Kate: What?! It doesn't work like that!
[Cut back to car, which smashes into the ground; fade to black again]
Bugs: Thanks, Toots.

[In the desert, D.J. spots a Wal-Mart store, rippling in the heat]
D.J.: Hey, look at that!
Bugs: Is it a mirage, or just product placement?
Daffy: Who cares? With shopping convenience at such low prices! [runs toward the image] Water! Fresca! Mountain Dew! Your product name here! Woo-hoo-hoo!
DJ: [to Kate] Is this your idea?
Kate: [opens her mouth to object, then gets defensive] The audience expects it. They don't even notice this kind of thing anymore.
[D.J. shares his disappointed look with the audience. Later, the intrepid adventurers depart the desert Wal-Mart with beverages and new clothes]
Bugs: Nice of Wal-Mart to provide these Wal-Mart beverages in retoin for us saying "Wal-Mart" so many times.

[Wile E. Coyote observes the heroes trudging through the desert]
Bugs: I told ya we shoulda made that left toin at Albuqwirky.
Daffy: Don't start that again!

Chairman: [to a miserable Wile E. Coyote] My God, young man, what am I going to do with you?! You've done nothing but screw up! You've walked off of mesas! You've been smashed by boulders! You've been run over by diesel trucks! And don't blame the equipment! The equipment is good; it's ACME equipment. You're a coyote! Be wily! [calms down] All right, now...buck up and let's see a little smile. [Wile E. smiles, briefly and unenthusiastically] Little bigger. [Wile E. gives a bigger one, this time holding it] Little bigger. [Wile E.'s smile spreads to a disproportionate size] Oh, that's nice. Now, just go take a shower, and don't come back until you smell better! [Wile E., now cheered up, heads upstairs] But be careful! There's some men moving a safe up there, and I don't want you to- [a cartoonish jet-engine, followed by a "crash" sound, is heard] And be careful of the box of fireworks, because- [released fireworks are heard] I suppose I should mention the plate-glass window- [shattering glass is heard] It's tough being the boss.

[Inside the Area 52 lab, chief spy-scientist Mother talks to the DJ et al.]
Mother: This isn't about the giant ants, is it?
Kate: Giant...ants?
Mother: 'Cause they're not really ants...anymore. [drinks from a flask of blue liquid.]
D.J.: Tell me about the Blue Monkey.
Mother: [spews her beverage on D.J.] How do you know about that thing that I've never heard of in my entire life?
D.J.: My dad told me.
Mother: [pauses] What is the point of making them pinky-swear?!

[At the Louvre, as Daffy grabs the playing-card lens, Elmer Fudd jams his shotgun into the back of Daffy's head]
Elmer: I'll take that!
Bugs: Em, what gives, Doc? We made thoity-five pictures together.
Elmer: Well, as it tuwns out, I'm secwetwy evil.
Daffy: [snorts] That's showbiz for ya.
Elmer: Now, make with the card, so I can pwease my dark masters!

[Bugs and Daffy enter the Persistence of Memory painting to evade Elmer Fudd. Elmer follows, enters, and takes aim, until his gun melts, remaining true to the theme of the painting. Bugs and Daffy laugh at him and run off, but they too start melting; their voices are slow and toned to a low key]
Daffy: Well, this is surreal.
Elmer: [Producing icons that represent each word he says] Stop, or I'll fire! [attempts to take aim again]
Bugs and Daffy: Yipe!
[Elmer fires, but the bullets are only propelled a few inches away. Elmer starts to melt completely out of shape. Bugs and Daffy make their way to the next painting through the wallpaper]

D.J.: There's a man there! He's got a woman! She's tied up in a burlap sack and he's taking her to the Eiffel Tower!
Pepe: Ah, eet eez Spring, eez eet not?

[After Daffy and Bugs jump out of the painting, Elmer Fudd leaps out of La Grande Jatte (by pointillist Georges Seurat) last, but remains in his painting form. Bugs reads to him from a museum guide]
Bugs: Pointillism. A technique using individual dots of pigment, which, taken together... [whips out a pocket electric fan] ...make an image. [turns on the fan]
Elmer: Aw, crud! [his dots start to disperse, until only his shoes are left]
Bugs: [to audience] I think, when you go to the movies, you should learn somethin'.
[Daffy is busy redrawing himself]

[As Granny's elephant progresses through the jungle, a flock of multicolored Tweety birds fly around]
Tweety: I've discovered my woots!
Sylvester: I've discovered my lunch!
[The birds attack Sylvester]
Tweety: [in his African garb] Cry freedom!

[From behind, we see the elephant come upon a picturesque lost city in the jungle]
Daffy: What a fantastic view!
Bugs: Unless you're in the audience, in which case you've been staring at an elephant's behind for thoity seconds.

ACME Chairman: Now, this, friend, is the ACME Train of Death, which is not good news for your father.
Damian: Don't worry about me, son. I've gotten out of worse scrapes than this one.
[Wile E. Coyote lights several sticks of dynamite around Damian]
ACME Chairman: You see, if the Train of Death doesn't kill him, then those crates of TNT will. Not to mention the 2-ton anvil hanging over his head. And- [sees a giant bladed pendulum swinging over Damian] Oh, look. There's the Pendulum of Doom. What's the Pendulum of Doom doing there?! I did not order the Pendulum of Doom! It's overkill! Get rid of it!
[Wile E. sheepishly pulls up the Pendulum of Doom]

[Outside the ACME satellite, Marvin the Martian (who Bugs and Daffy previously almost got rid of) holds an ACME Bubble Gun on Bugs]
Marvin: You tricked me!
Bugs: Eh, what's up, Darth?

[While Bugs fights Marvin outside a spaceship, Daffy cowers inside, sucking his thumb]
Daffy: What am I gonna do? What would Damian Drake do? What would Duck Dodgers do? [pause in realization] Wait a minute, I am Duck Dodgers! [spins and changes into his Duck Dodgers outfit] A-ha! I'm going to be the hero of this picture! [straps on a rocket] Duck Dodgers to the rescue! [the rocket explodes; he straps on a second rocket; dazed] Duck Dodgers to the- [another explosion; he straps on a third; dazed] Duck Dodgers- [yet another explosion; angrily glares at a fourth rocket] Duck! [yet another explosion; straps on the last rocket and appears undamaged] It's You-Know-Who to the rescue! [to the camera] It helps if ya don't say the name.

[Marvin tries to shoot Bugs again, but the rabbit clogs it with one of his fingers in the gun and seals the Martian in his own bubble then flicks it]
Bugs Bunny: Well, that takes care of that. [quickly on cue after he said it, he is grabbed by the claw] Yipe!

ACME Chairman: Are you all monkeys yet? [sees one of the laserbeams that shot out of Daffy's nose coming right at him] Uh-oh! [the beam heads straight towards him then suddenly disappears in flash of the beam]
[DJ, Kate, and Damian arrive to see a monkey with glasses, revealing to be the ACME Chairman in monkey form, next to Mary, who is sobbing]
Damian: Checkmate, Mr. Chairman. [holding up tiny handcuffs] You're going down. [crouches down in front of monkey Chairman and starts putting the handcuffs on his wrists]

TaglinesEdit

  • Real life has never been so animated.
  • How do they solve a mystery when they don't have a clue?
  • The biggest animated adventure ever to hit real life.
  • That sounds really boring.

CastEdit

Live-Action CharactersEdit

Character VoicesEdit

External LinksEdit

 
Wikipedia