Cool World

Animator Bakshi promises a hipper version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but delivers a pale imitation. The action shifts between our world and the Cool World, an anarchic cartoon universe where Detective Frank Harris (Pitt) has to stop the only other human (Byrne) from being seduced by voluptuous Holli Would (voiced by Basinger), or for some reason the end of both worlds would be nigh. Bakshi has triumphed before without much plot, happiest when given free rein to be weird, but here you get the impression that the studio got cold feet. Apart from a thumping acid house soundtrack, and one extraordinary shot which takes the 'camera' into a character's mouth, through the guts and out the anus, the chaos is strangely muted. Even the eventual universe-shaking shag is an anti-climax, and by the time all hell rips loose just before the abysmally contrived happy ending, you're well past caring.