COONSKIN

You remember my review on "Disney's Song Of The South"? Even though I didn't think it was as bad as people say it is, it still had it's stereotypes of African Americans. The NACCP hate this film, but there's one film they praise that's Uncle Remus related and that is...



The NACCP despise  "Song Of The South", but they support this film? How is that possible? It has nearly amount of everything that's offensive. Just read the title of the film "Coonskin". Yeah, I'm sure no one will be offended by the title. This is one of the most controversial adult rated animated films of all time and I'm going to review it.


So what's the story? Well the main story takes place in the animated segment, but the film has a live action Prologue and Epilogue. So let's start talking about the live action segment.

A Preacherman (Charles Gordone) and a big man named Sampson (Barry White) plan to bust their friend Randy (Philip Michael Thomas) out of prison, but along the way they are being chased by cops. Meanwhile, Randy and his cellmate Pappy (Scatman Crothers) wait outside the prison walls to get into the getaway car.

The live action segment seems like the only normal part in the movie. It has a decent story, nice cinematography and interesting characters. It actually looks like a good prison break movie. Sadly, as I said before, these scenes only appear in the opening and ending of the movie. However, I actually like the idea that these scenes are only in the opening and closing of the film, because while you see the animated characters, you're just as eager as the main characters are, to see them get out of prison. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say it makes the waiting worthwhile.

OK, most of you are probably wondering where are those stereotyped animated characters and the surreal over the top animation? While Randy and Pappy are waiting, Pappy tells Randy a story about three animals that he knew that are just like Randy and his friends. This leads us into the film's main plot.
  
 

Three Animals, Brother Rabbit (Thomas), Preacher Fox (Gordone) and Brother Bear (White), go to Harlem for opportunity and rise through the crime ranks. The film satires racial stereotypes and caricatures, the Mafia, the Blaxploitation film genre,"The Godfather" and is mostly a parody on "Song Of The South".

Ralph Bakshi is a very adult rated surreal animator and seeing all these stereotypical caricatures drawn by him is a bit of a shocker, mostly having to do that he's white. When I saw the designs of the main characters and the other black stereotype drawings we all know and hate, I thought he was reinforcing those racist images. As I watched the movie I realized he's actually attacking those images. He doesn't just attack the black stereotype cartoons, he also attacks the stereotype cartoons of the Italians, racist rednecks, the drags and the gays. Even though I see what he's trying to do, I'm not sure if it's supposed to make me laugh, or to make me look back and remember how offensive these stereotypes are. It's not just confusing, but it's also a huge reason why the films so controversial. I guess the film's tagline was right when it said"This film will offend everybody."

As far as the rest of the animation goes, it's very surreal and feels like I went on a acid trip. With that said, it can look bad at points. Putting the animated characters in a photograph or live a footage environment does work a few times, but it mostly looks like it was cut and pasted in and doesn't really blend in. Not for a second did I believe the human characters were interacting with the animated characters, and what's the purpose of throwing live humans with animated characters?  The live action humans aren't the focus nor do they play a big part in the animated story. A sequence I enjoy, but dislike at the same time is when Brother Bear is boxing. Even though I enjoy seeing the live action humans getting gruesomely knocked out in breath taking fast edits, Brother Bear doesn't punch them, it's all just live action people getting knocked out by a human arm (To make the audience assume it's Brother Bear), we never see Brother Bear actually punch them. All we know is he wins the fights.

Their satire on the Mafia and the Blaxploitation genre works and gives the film it's action packed atmosphere. The idea that it's set in Harlem is usually where those types of films take place in, and is a good choice if you're going to satire that genre. The film mostly does treat itself as that type of gangster film and I have to say it's very hardcore. The action scenes are drawn really cool; the story is basically the same classic rising up through the crime rank story; and the characters act like the traditional Mafia icons we know. I also like how they parody my favorite film "The Godfather" by having a character called "The Godfather" that looks like an Italian stereotype caricature of the character Vito Corleone; I thought that was clever.  Another thing I like in the satire of the genre is that our three characters play as the type of characters we see in the Mafia films. Brother Bear is the person who's dragged into the business; Preacher Fox is the highly successful one; and Brother Rabbit is the one who's greedy for power (Like "Little Caesar" or Tony Montana). By the way, did you know the guy who voices Brother Rabbit did the voice of Lance in the controversial video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City"?
  

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering "Aside from the three main characters, how does their satire of "Song Of The South" fit in". Well, first off you got Scatman Crothers as the narrator Pappy, who's suppose to be the modern day Uncle Remus and I have to admit that's good casting, because he fits the role perfectly. Throughout the film, Brother Rabbit uses some of the methods Brer Rabbit uses to trick people. When he's about to get killed, he begs not to be thrown out the window. The villains throw him out the window and he lands in a garbage can, yelling "I was born and raised in the garbage can." That's a parody on when Brer Rabbit begs not to be thrown in the Briarpatch. Brother Rabbit also uses a "Tar Baby" to capture one of the people that's on his hit list. Even some of Brother Rabbits dialogue is a modernized reference to the lines Brer Rabbit says. The characters don't just satirize the characters in the Uncle Remus stories, they also satire "The Looney Tunes." Look at the designs, they look like rejected "Looney Tunes" characters, because of the black stereotype. They even act a little like "The Looney Tunes" by being over the top, obnoxious, smart and constantly getting hurt or hurting others. When we first meet the characters they're in front of "The Looney Tunes" logo, also another tagline for the film is "This is it folks" as a parody too the closer to the cartoons "That's All Folks". The music fits the mood to the film by playing Jazz music, old songs and even plays similar music that "The Godfather" is known for. I was also pleased that they gave a song for Scatman Crothers to sing. During the opening credits he's playing the guitar, scatting (Which he's best at) and sings a satire to how African Americans are treated and are referred too in the song "Ah'm A N----r Man".

The thing that surprises me the most in the film is the rating. Why is this film rated R it should be rated X or NC-17. Why, because of the nudity. I'm serious, this is the most graphic nudity I have ever seen in a animated film. They really go into detail with nude girls and the sex scenes. There's even a girl named Miss America who plays no part in the story and is just there throughout the film to turn the audience on. Jessica Rabbit eat your heart out, because Miss America is about to steal the audience away from you. If this isn't perverted enough, they actually have a scene with Brother Bears private showing and it's not shown briefly, it's shown for a good 1 minute, they even cartoonishly grab his private to drag him somewhere. This is really some perverted S--t.



The film suffered from a lot of controversies and was once released on VHS under the title called "Street Fight". The film is still something to debate about and can you blame them? Even Martin Scorsese has footage of people running out of theaters after a smoke bomb went off inside, while he was filming "Taxi Driver". I can't say it's a good film or bad film, but I will say it's more offensive then "Song of the South"; Then again, "Song Of The South" is not a satire, but at least it didn't look like this film. 

RATING 3/5