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Strange though it must seem to those weaned on "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull", Robert De Niro only became box office gold through parodying his intense machismo in "Analyze This" and "Meet The Parents". Far from being embarrassed at commercial success resulting only from his comic turns, he is now milking it to the maximum as the producer of "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle". Though he is now well used to creating laughter, De Niro has not yet been this broad, so the sight of him in the role of Fearless Leader - boogying idiotically with a cigarette-holder jammed in his mouth - causes quite a jolt. With a pudding-bowl haircut as further evidence of his idiocy, the Leader plans to take over America by hypnotising the nation with RBTV (Really Bad Television). He is helped (well, mainly hindered) in his efforts by two no-brain sidekicks, Boris and Natasha (Jason Alexander and Rene Russo), who are finally thwarted by Rocky and Bullwinkle, cartoon characters who have now entered the real world.
De Niro, Alexander, and Russo are good at acting daft, and seem to relish the notion that they are adults behaving like kids. The film, indeed, is aiming to reach both adults (through knowing irony) and kids (through broad fun). Jokes about the movie becoming two-dimensional and celebrities being above the law will certainly cause tiny tots to glaze over; instead they will (sometimes) appreciate the pratfalls and clowning provided by Jason Alexander (the self-serving worrier in "Seinfeld"), who has the advantage of looking like a natural fool. The picture, though loose and lazy for much of its life, does at least have a high degree of innocence, charm and pep, but is finally only as good as its best jokes. Fortunately there are quite a few of those.
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