I have been a Rocky and Bullwinkle fan since the '60s when the original show created by Jay Ward went into reruns. It's one of the few shows from that era that I was addicted to, and I often made a point to be home to watch an episode before doing anything else. Friends would watch in amazement that I could find anything that funny about the show, but I absolutely loved the continual wordplay and subtle humor that Bullwinkle and friends dished out.

Thus, I was eagerly anticipating new adventures when I first saw the trailers for the big-screen version of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Then I became even more intrigued when I saw that Robert De Niro was part of the project, and then I was convinced that it was a "must see" for me after seeing screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan at a local film festival showing of his film You Can Count on Me.

The original TV show starred the "plucky" Rocket J. Squirrel and the dimwitted-but-lovable Bullwinkle J. Moose, both of whom lived in a hilltop house in Frostbite Falls, Minn. Each episode required these two heroes to outwit their Pottsylvanian enemies Boris Badenov and Natasha, who were continually ordered by Fearless Leader to "kill Moose and Squirrel." The show satirized the old serial thrillers as our heroes were left in dire straits, but always came through miraculously. This happened in 28 episodes. Score: Moose and Squirrel 28, Boris and Natasha 0.

The movie starts promisingly, keeping the puns and hackneyed wordplay intact. Since cancellation of their show in 1964, Rocky and Bullwinkle have continued to live in Frostbite Falls on their residual checks that amount to 3 ½ cents per month. Things have deteriorated greatly in their hometown, and all the trees have been turned into stumps.

This gives an opportunity for Bullwinkle to do one of his famous wordplay mix-ups, confusing conservation with conversation—which he's going to need anyway if he's going to convince the President to start an animation tree project in Frostbite Falls.

Meanwhile, our Pottsylvanian bad guys have burrowed through the cartoon underground to arrive at a place that lies between reality and cartoons—Hollywood. Their plan is to take over the world (as always) and they offer a contract to a Hollywood script-reader, who has been rejecting numerous children's-show scripts as being “too intelligent.” After signing the contract the trio of Boris, Natasha, and Fearless Leader plunges into the real world as Jason Alexander, Rene Russo, and Robert De Niro.

Alexander and Russo have perfectly captured the look, the mannerisms, and the accents of their cartoon counterparts, and that is all they are required to do. After all, this is a cartoon, and we are not looking for anything beyond stereotype here. It's no surprise that De Niro, the ultimate method actor, captures the accent and mannerisms of Fearless Leader, though I'm not sure what De Niro did for method acting here other than perhaps hang out with the cartoon characters at Disneyland.

The trio's dastardly plan is not all that far-fetched. The plan is to take over all the television networks and feed RBTV (Real Bad TV) programming through them to turn the American people into zombies who will vote however Fearless Leader orders them to. We see a test audience, eyes glazed over with fixed smiles on their faces, as the bad guys celebrate in the sound room to the tune of "Secret Agent Man." This concept is explored a little more seriously in Quiz Show, but the idea is pretty decent—it's over the top, yet it touches on a real issue.

I'm still trying to understand what happened to the film at this point that caused me to lose interest. I really wanted this film to succeed, but after the three archenemies became human and unleashed their plan, the film rapidly went downhill. I think it is due to the overall concept more than anything.

This film can't figure out if it wants to be a cartoon or be a real-life adventure with supporting cartoon characters (done much more successfully in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). There's no depth to any of the characters, so I'm assuming that the director conceived this essentially as a cartoon. If so, he needs to work more on the script—it falls about as flat as its characters and only has an occasional bright spot.

One highlight is a Travis Bickle self-parody that De Niro does when talking with Boris and Natasha: "Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me? I'm the only one here." Like the old TV show, this one will sail right over most of the kids' heads (if the dead silence I heard from all but one other adult in the theater is any indication).

There's an attempt to satirize the lifestyle of the '60s in one portion when Rocky and Bullwinkle are hitchhiking and get picked up by a couple of Wossamota U. (Bullwinkle's alma mater) students who are on the road "looking for America." There's also an anti-Moose protest going on at the college, for unknown and lame reasons that fail to arouse any chuckles.

The computer-generated images of Rocky and Bullwinkle are well done, and Moose and Squirrel essentially keep in character and are charming. They even match their real-life surroundings and interact with them believably. Unfortunately, Rocky and Bullwinkle aren't given enough to do or say that is particularly clever.

Especially weak is the performance of Piper Perabo as FBI agent Karen Sympathy. Her mission is to retrieve Rocky and Bullwinkle, so they can save the world from the dastardly plan of world domination through the enemy's Really Bad TV network. Perabo plays the tough-but-idealistic agent who has a literal “inner child” show up in her eye when she's around her childhood cartoon heroes.

Why she was cast opposing the veteran bad guys is a real mystery to me. Perabo isn't strong enough to carry this movie, even with the help of Moose and Squirrel. She is the one character who should be a little bit human, yet she remains a one-dimensional cardboard character. They would have done better to cast another CGI person in her stead.

There are some attempts to modernize the Rocky and Bullwinkle story. A young girl who has designed a computer-degenerating image program hands a computer manual the size of the Chicago phone book to Boris so that he can destroy Moose and Squirrel. She asks him if he is "computer literate," but Boris tries the old-fashioned way first before deciding to try the kid's invention out. Later, Bullwinkle will take a surfing voyage through cyberspace to save the day. These are nice touches but not enough to save the film.

Not that The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle doesn't have its moments. I did chuckle a few times at the puns, but there's about an equal number of puns in this 90-minute version as we can find in one of the half-hour TV shows. I felt like Whoopi Goldberg's judge character when she puts on her glasses, excited to see Rocky and Bullwinkle for the first time, and declares "Celebrities are above the law!"

I wish it were so all the time when celebrities appear in movies. Sometimes they can elevate a mediocre movie, but other times it’s like Natasha tells Boris: "Face it. We suck."