'' is a
2003 Warner Bros. Film that combines
Live-action and
Animation to tell the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake (played by
Brendan Fraser ), who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father (played by
Timothy Dalton ). In his globe-trotting adventure, he is aided (and confounded) by his animated Hollywood friends,
Bugs Bunny and
Daffy Duck , as well as the studio executive who fired him (played by
Jenna Elfman ). Written by
Larry Doyle and directed by
Joe Dante , this film is essentially a feature-length ''
Looney Tunes '' cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical of the genre.
Daffy Duck , tired of playing "stooge" to the "long-eared, carrot-chomping, overbite challenged rabbit" Bugs Bunny, demands better treatment from the Warner brothers. Kate Houghton (
Jenna Elfman ), the Vice President of Comedy, reveals to a heartbroken Daffy that Bugs is much more popular than Daffy, saying that while Bugs enjoys universal appeal, the duck's fan base is limited to "angry fat guys in basements." After Daffy discovers he has been fired, he is escorted out of the board room by Kate and Bugs.
Meanwhile, DJ Drake (
Brendan Fraser ), a security guard, fails an audition for a stuntman job. He is then asked to escort a distraught Daffy Duck off the lot, but this results in the destruction of the studio's water tower. DJ himself is then fired in a scene inspired by the 1960s TV series
Branded .
Some of the other cartoon characters are struggling in stardom, especially
Porky Pig and
Speedy Gonzales .
Scooby Doo and
Shaggy (both are appropriately voiced by
Frank Welker and
Casey Kasem ) confront
Matthew Lillard who portrayed Shaggy in the live-action
Scooby Doo movie. Kate tries to change Bugs' famous gags by teaming him up with a female co-star. Bugs counters this with his famous
Crossdressing gag.
DJ returns to his home, next door to
Granny ,
Sylvester , and
Tweety Bird , and finds Daffy has hitched a ride, as he has nowhere else to go. Daffy learns DJ is Damian Drake's son. Daffy believes Damian is a spy, while DJ thinks he is merely an actor who portrays a spy. When it's learned both are right, and Damian is in trouble over the Blue Monkey diamond, DJ heads off. His only clue, the nightclub actress "Dusty Tails" in Las Vegas. All of DJ's attempts to throw Daffy out of his pizza delivery car fail, and the two set off on their adventure.
About this time, it's learned DJ has played Brendan Fraser's stunt double many times and he considers Brendan to be very unpleasant.
Meanwhile, the Warner Bros. decide Kate misled them into firing Daffy and they want him back or Kate is fired. Bugs' phone call to Daffy is rebuked.
Unknown to Daffy and DJ, their conversation is being watched by the board of directors of the
ACME Corporation . The eccentric yet intimidating Mr. Chairman (
Steve Martin ) wants the Blue Monkey for his own "diabolical ends".
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Kate goes to DJ's house and finds Bugs, and also discovers DJ is Damian Drake's son. They head out in Damian's true spy car, (a
TVR Tuscan ).
DJ and Daffy arrive at . He and DJ attempt to fight their way out of the casino, but things stop when the card is lost on the gambling floor. DJ manages to win a game and recover it. But then his car falls to pieces when the two leap in.
Yosemite Sam and his cronies commandeer
Jeff Gordon 's racecar and chase Daffy and DJ. They find Kate and Bugs, and all four drive off in the spy car with the cowboys not far behind. Accidental discovery of the flying mode leaves the villains well behind. A lack of gas causes the car to crash into the middle of
Death Valley (first stopping in midair because of lack of gas, then crashing into the ground right after Kate says that's not possible). Later at a campout, Daffy expresses his jealousy to Bugs with the statement: "All you have to do is nibble a carrot and people love you."
The next day, the heroes come across a
Wal-Mart store in the middle of the desert (which is assumed to be a
Mirage ) and get free stuff in exchange for endorsement of Wal-Mart. Mr. Chairman's father, another VP, suggests they get the "Desert Operative", i.e. Wile E. Coyote to deal with the heroes. His attempt typically fails.
The heroes stumble across
Area 52 , the real secret military base where the aliens are stored. The base's leading researcher, known as Mother (
Joan Cusack ) has been expecting DJ and reveals to him that the Blue Monkey is a powerful gem that can be used to turn the human race into monkeys.
Marvin The Martian who is imprisoned within Area 52, is ordered to attack the heroes. Using other aliens, including
Dalek s, he causes a mass riot, which the heroes escape.
They realize that a picture of the
Mona Lisa is on the playing card and head to the
Louvre in
Paris . DJ manages to find a map of
Africa .
Elmer Fudd appears wanting the window and he reveals he is secretly evil. Bugs and Daffy flee from Elmer throughout the museum, leaping into several paintings like
The Scream . Kate is kidnapped by Mr. Smith and taken to the top of the
Eiffel Tower .
Beaky Buzzard flies overhead in a
Helicopter . Mr. Smith escapes with a photographed copy of the map. Bugs and Daffy defeat Elmer by running into another painting that results in Elmer coming out in a
Pointillism effect. Bugs blows him to pieces using a fan. Kate falls off the side of the Eiffel Tower but is saved by DJ.
ACME prepares to head to Africa. Mr. Chairman decides to unleash his most vicious operative:
Taz . The VP for Never Learning criticizes Taz, and the Chairman releases Taz upon the VP, transforming him into a
Skeleton .
In Africa, DJ, Kate, Bugs and Daffy run into Granny, Sylvester and Tweety riding an
Elephant through the jungle. They hitch a ride and discover some ancient ruins and the Blue Monkey itself., Granny, Sylvester and Tweety unzip bodysuits to reveal themselves as Mr. Chairman (the film's second example of
Crossdressing ), Mr. Smith and Taz in disguise. All but Taz and Mr. Smith are teleported back to the ACME building.
DJ and Kate are chained up and find Damian on a railway track about to be run over by the Train of Death driven by Wile E. Coyote. They are also attacked by a giant ACME Guard Dog. Bugs and Daffy head into space after Marvin the Martian to a
Satellite where the Blue Monkey will transmit a monkey-transforming beam around the globe. Bugs meets Marvin and says "What's up, Darth" (A Star Wars parody), and battles Marvin with a
Lightsaber while reading "
The Force For Dummies". Daffy becomes
Duck Dodgers and saves the day by deflecting the satellite. DJ saves Damian, outwits the giant dog, and
Destroys the Train of Death (Wile E. mentions that he doesn't get paid enough before the wreck). Marvin is trapped in a bubble and floats off into space. Mr. Chairman now a monkey, is arrested with a little pair of monkey sized handcuffs.
Bugs and Daffy talk about the adventure while it's revealed the whole thing is just a movie. DJ punches out Brendan Fraser. Bugs then reveals that he has decided to let Daffy be his equal partner. Daffy decides his luck may be changing. But just not yet, as he ends up smooshed by a falling round metal plate which is revealed to be the symbol of the Looney Tunes.
Porky Pig fails to perform his ending spiel and he instead tells the audience to go home.
- Brendan Fraser did such a good job doing an impersonation of Taz that he was allowed to do the voice.
- During filming, Brendan Fraser was completely terrified at having to hit Bill Goldberg ; Goldberg constantly told him to go ahead and do it, telling him, "It's what I do for a living."
- Joan Cusack 's character is called "Mother", a reference to the head of the spy organization on the TV Series '' The Avengers ''.
- Jenna Elfman 's character, Kate Houghton, was named after Katharine Hepburn . Houghton was Hepburn's middle name.
- Joe Alaskey - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Beaky Buzzard, Mama Bear, Happy Rabbit (deleted scene)
- Jeff Bennett - Foghorn Leghorn, Nasty Canasta, Yosemite Sam
- Bob Bergen - Porky Pig
- Mel Blanc - Gremlin Car (archive sound)
- Danny Chambers - Cottontail Smith
- June Foray - Granny
- Dee Bradley Baker - Road Runner
- Maurice LaMarche - Wile E. Coyote
- Brendan Fraser - Tasmanian Devil, Tasmanian She-Devil
- Stan Freberg - Baby Bear
- Eric Goldberg - Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Tweety Bird
- Casey Kasem - Shaggy
- Bruce Lanoil - Pepé Le Pew
- Danny Mann - Robo Dog, Spy Car
- Will Ryan - Papa Bear
- Frank Welker - Scooby-Doo
- Billy West - Elmer Fudd, Peter Lorre-like Scientist
- Larry Doyle wrote an early draft of the script, based on his story, that was immediately green-lit and sent it barreling into production. The script looked considerably different two months later. Doyle and other writers wrote many subsequent drafts while the movie was shooting and more when it was finished.
- Notably, the film was Jerry Goldsmith's last as composer. Due to Goldsmith's failing health, the last reel of the film was actually scored by John Debney , though Goldsmith was the only credited composer in marketing materials. John Debney got a small credit at the end as "Additional music by".
- This film started out as a follow-up to Space Jam (1996). It was going to be called ''Spy Jam'', and was going to star Jackie Chan .
- The Character Animation in this film was traditionally hand-drawn. Computer technology was used to color the animation drawings in, add tone mattes and shadows to the characters, and composite them over the live-action backgrounds. 3D Computer Animation is used on objects such as the spaceships, Wile E. Coyote 's missile, the robot guard dog at the end, and Bugs ' carrots in the cafeteria.
- Film Director '' Joe Dante '' nicknamed this project, the ''Anti-Space Jam'' movie, showing his hate for how '' Space Jam '' ruined the characters' personalities.
