While incarcerated for murder, cartoonist Jack Deebs found escape by creating Cool World, a series featuring a voluptuous femme fatale named Holli Would. But the artist becomes a prisoner of his own fantasies when Holli transports Jack into Cool World with a scheme to seduce him and bring herself to life. Hard-boiled detective Frank Harris – the only other human in Cool World – cautions Jack with the law: Noids (humans) don't have sex with doodles (cartoons). However, flesh proves weaker than ink as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas, staring in a trans-universal chase that threatens the destruction of both worlds.
Practical Effects
Hand-drawn animation colliding with live-action before it was easy
Production
Bakshi's last feature: a beautiful disaster born from studio battles
Director
Ralph Bakshi
Kim Basinger
Holli Would
Gabriel Byrne
Jack Deebs
Brad Pitt
Detective Frank Harris
Michele Abrams
Jennifer Malley
Deirdre O'Connell
Isabelle Malley
Janni Brenn
Agatha Rose Harris
William Frankfather
Cop
Greg Collins
Cop
Maurice LaMarche
Interrogator #2 / Mash / drunken bar patron / Dr. Vincent "Vegas Vinnie" Whiskers / Jack Deebs (super hero version) (voice)
Michael David Lally
Sparks (voice)
Carrie Hamilton
Comic Bookstore Cashier
Joey Camen
Interrogator #1 / Slash / Holli's door (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was originally pitched as a horror film; Paramount forced it to become a comedy. Bakshi has disowned the final cut.
Holli Would became an unlikely internet thirst icon decades later, proving Bakshi's design outlived the film's reputation. The 'don't have sex with cartoons' rule spawned endless memes.
US
