The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle

Based on the ’60s television series, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle follows the title characters as they’re forced to spring into action after Robert De Niro’s villainous Fearless Leader, along with his henchmen Boris (Jason Alexander) and Natasha (Rene Russo), launches a plan to turn America’s population into mindless zombies. There’s little doubt that The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle fares best in its briskly-paced and agreeably irreverent opening stretch, as filmmaker Des McAnuff, working from Kenneth Lonergan’s script, does an effective job of lampooning the myriad of cliches and conventions generally associated with movies of this ilk – with the frequently captivating atmosphere heightened by a series of better-than-expected performances. (De Niro dives into his over-the-top figure with an enthusiasm that’s never not hypnotic.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that the picture eventually segues into a frenetic and mostly kid-oriented midsection that slowly-but-surely drains one’s interest, with the often aggressively episodic nature of this stretch paving the way for a lumbering, momentum-free second half devoid of involving elements. By the time the predictably loud and action-packed finale rolls around, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle has cemented its place as a missed opportunity that squanders a promising first act to a fairly (and lamentably) predominant degree.

** out of ****