Cool World: The Cartoon That Gave Me Nightmares (and Not the Good Kind)

Okay, so I finally braved "Cool World" (1992) after hearing about it forever. I went in expecting a weird, maybe kinda fun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? kinda vibe. Boy, was I wrong. This thing is...something else. The animation is decent, I'll give it that, but the story is just...yikes. I mean, Brad Pitt as Frank Harris, the cop stuck in Cool World, is fine I guess, but Kim Basinger as Holli Would? She's supposed to be this seductive, dangerous femme fatale, but she mostly just came across as annoying. The whole plot about her wanting to become real and wreaking havoc in the real world felt super underdeveloped and kinda misogynistic, tbh. There's the scene where she tries to seduce Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne), the creator of Cool World and, jeez, it's just awkward. And don't even get me started on the ending. The whole 'noid' concept, where a doodle can become human if they experience intense emotions, was poorly executed and felt like it came out of nowhere. The whole movie felt like different ideas got crammed together without any sense of cohesion. I think someone had a really wild dream and tried to make a movie out of it without figuring out if any of it made sense. Honestly, it's one of those movies that's so bad it's...interesting. I can see why it has a cult following, but I wouldn't exactly recommend it for a fun movie night. Maybe if you're looking for something bizarre and unintentionally hilarious? Proceed with caution, though. You've been warned!