Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

SnoopyStyle In 1945 Las Vegas, Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) returns from fighting in Italy. He rides his motorcycle won in a poker game with his mother. They get into an accident and his mother is killed. Frank gets pulled into the animated "Cool World" by Dr. Vincent Whiskers who's trying to escape into the real world using his spike. It's 1992. Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) is in prison for killing his wife's lover. He's a cartoonist who created "Cool World". His creation Holli Would (Kim Basinger) pulls him into the animated world before he returns back to his cell.This is a really outlandish "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" world. Director Ralph Bakshi is more concerned with creating a crazy world than a compelling story or interesting performances. Pitt is stiff not reacting to the cartoon craziness. Byrne seems lost trying to act opposite cartoon characters. Holli is whiny. It's the kind of flashy chaos that distracts from the story or the characters. It's like watching a movie with a light shining into your eyes. This really wants to be cool but it's too crazy for its own good.

HelenMary Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger in the same film, gorgeous - what could go wrong, right? Well, seems as if that leaves a lot open. This was without doubt one of the worst films in the history of cinema. Even Brad struggled, acting opposite 'toons and only him being gorgeous saved him. Kim Basinger, playing a cartoon when she was real, was dreadful, and even Gabriel Byrne was awful. Nothing about this film was a plus except some of the cartoon scenes with Holli Would dancing were good graphics and certainly appealing to men, no doubt.I found all the antics/anarchy by the "extras" 'toons annoying and gross, not to mention pointless, and over all the film was too adult in theme to make sense of how stupid and low-brow, naff and badly done it was. If it was a children's film, it would have worked better but the whole film was based on the premise that 'noids (humanoids) didn't have sex with cartoons and Holli's porn-esque writhing and posing were not suitable for kids. So what was the point? The acting was too bad to make it titillating for adults.It is trying to be Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which was eminently better despite being four years earlier, better drawn and better acted and greatly better toon/human interaction. So it's trying to be WFRR and failing dismally.A dreadful film, saved only by some sexy toon dancing by Holli, Brad Pitt being gorgeous and a cutesy Hollywood romantic ending. Awful film, skipped through a bit of the "filler 'toon mayhem" scenes as wanted it to end.

johnstonjames 'Cool World' is one of those movies where "word of mouth" gets around that it's a disappointment, people stop giving it a chance and it becomes the "in the know" thing to repeat the criticism. personally i think Bashki's 'Cool World' is outta sight and outta this world funny fun.this is not the milestone or cinema great that 'Roger Rabbit' is, i won't make that claim, but it's a much better film and more successful in it's ambition than it is usually given credit for. Bashki is a classic animator from the 1970's, and a notable filmmaker. this film has a lot to offer.for one thing, it's not Disney. that's for sure. some of this film is pretty racy sexually. the skilled design of the cartoon characters resembles the artwork of Fleischer and Tex Avery toons and the look of old Warner Bros., Terry and Harvey toons as well. Bashki brings this off brilliantly for anyone that's seen those toons from the 1930's and 40's.the film is helped by some hilarious, tongue and cheek performances from Kim Bassinger and Brad Pitt.i understand the criticism of the film somewhat. not only is it not masterwork of cinema 'Roger Rabbit' is, it's also a little uneven. the connection that this is the comic book world of a Stan Lee type artist is not always clear. the use of cardboard sets is often effective but not in all scenes. all in all, this is a very ambitious under-taking and this animation/live action process is hardly ever attempted.for this particular project, animation with adult overtones, Bashki is the master and was one of the first, therefore perfect for this. he also does a smash up job of bringing this hilariously to life. Bashki's kind of tasteless humour anticipated 'South Park' by decades. and he's still one of the best.this film is for any adult that is still in love with hand drawn animation and has a sense of humour about the comic books of their childhood in the seventies. and it's for anyone that likes "dirty duck" type humour. this movie is a animated mushroom cloud. hilarious.

TheLittleSongbird I had heard that this film was messy and awful and everything, but as I am a huge animation fan I was thinking maybe I should give it a chance, maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Cool World wasn't absolutely awful, it had its saving graces, but there is a lot wrong as well that makes it a major disappointment. This has been compared to other live-action films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, I'll keep the comparison brief; Cool World isn't as fun, innovative or as original as WFRR, and I will admit I wasn't expecting it to be.PROS: The animation is not bad at all. The backgrounds look like paintings, the characters are drawn reasonably well and the colours are beautiful. The soundtrack is pretty good too, the score is wonderful and the songs are fun and suitably upbeat. I like the character of Holli Would, she is sensual and sexy, yet she is very selfish and cruel, that makes her intriguing. Personally I thought Kim Bassinger did a decent job playing her. Plus the live action sequences were well shot.CONS: Whereas the animation sequences and the live action sequences are fine individually, merged together they don't quite gel, in fact they are quite jarring-the live action considerably duller than the animation and the human characters are incredibly stiff. While I was fine with Kim Bassinger, the other acting is not great at all I feel. Gabriel Byrne is given little to do and struggles, while Brad Pitt(who has actually given some good performances in some good films, ie. Se7en) speaks in a constant monotonic drawl to the point he's boring. The script is very unfocused, derivative and confused, and the story is incomplete and meanders all over the place. Complete with very pedestrian pacing, badly underdeveloped characters and a WTF? ending, and you have a pretty disappointing film overall.All in all, has its moments, but out of the Ralph Bakshi films I've seen, this is my least favourite, a film that had promise but failed to deliver. 4/10 Bethany Cox