Cool World (1992) Rated PG13 Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Kim Basinger, and Brad Pitt Rating: out of

The story, such as it is, involves a cartoon alternate universe called Cool World. It's inhabited by 'doodles,' which are cartoon characters and 'noids,' which are humans. The 'noids' are prevented from having sex with the 'doodles' by a cop (Brad Pitt), who has been sucked into Cool World from post-World War II Las Vegas by accident. A cartoonist named Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne), who authors a comic book called Cool World, believes he created this alternate universe and a character named Holli Would (Kim Basinger). Deebs, who's just been released from prison, seems to want to have sex with Holli. Hence, cartoon sex cop Pitt has something to do: prevent Holli from having sex with Deebs.

Now, there's a lot going on in Cool World and most of it is unrelated to the plot or the characters. The problem is that that stuff happens at the same time as the stuff relating to the plot and the characters, forcing you to try to sift through each scene for relevant information.

The interaction between the cartoon 'doodles' and the human 'noids' is pretty lousy. Pitt and Byrne, in particular, seem to be looking past the 'doodles' they're supposedly talking to and it spoils the illusion that these characters are sharing the same space. Shattering that illusion, which is essentially the whole point of the movie, ruins the film.

Cool World does have some really inspired moments, but they're buried under too much irrelevant noise from the bad sets, poor animation, horrible screenplay and sub-par performances. Stick with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? if you want to see cartoons lust for humans or vice versa.

Trivia: Cool World received a rather cool response from the public, making only $14 million dollars in its theater run. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)