Toonpur Ka Superhero ReviewAjay Devgn has often put in animated acts in his now-popular slapstick brand of comedy. Ironically his first stint with fulltime animation is not as dynamic as one would have expected it to be. While the animated characters are technically designed to three-dimensional perfection, all of them remain hollow from the writing point of view with one-dimensional characterizations. So after making a cartoon of himself in Golmaal, here Devgn presents us with a Golmaal of cartoons.
Toonpur is the land of cartoons where the Devtoons (good cartoons) and the Toonasurs (bad cartoons) are constantly fighting each other. Filmstar Aditya (Ajay Devgn) is the matinee idol of Devtoons and they wish to seek his help. Devtoons kidnap and bring Aditya to Toonpur and request their screen-god to fight their enemies. But the onscreen action hero Aditya has no heroism off the screen.
Too many caricatures jam the screen space in this Space Jam styled live action-animation feature, adding colours to the screen but not the script. So you have a Gandalf look-alike village head, an AK Hangal sound-alike Emperor, a Gujarati housewife Big Ben, a Pandu Havaldar, a blonde and beautiful Loveena, a Parsi scientist and the most 'inspiring' amongst them all – the 'golden' voiced Guppy (clearly modeled on the lines of composer Bappi Lahiri). There are so many of them that when Sanjay Dutt introduces each in a rapid-fire preface, you hardly get to know who's who of Toonpur.
While the real world and the cartoon world do not coexist in the film, there are no set boundaries between the two either. Ajay Devgn's relocation from one domain to other is never clearly defined. But then again Devgn's assimilation in the animated arena is so seamless and picture perfect that you don't complain on the missing transit. The live action-animation integration by Kireet Khurana is beautifully done and remains flawless in every frame. What the debutante director has achieved technically is commendable.
But as much as the animated characters continue to be in the same attire throughout the film, they also carry on the same attitude all through. None are explored beyond their boundaries as they continue to crack the same gags through the film making them monotonous. With such a wide array of interesting animated characters in appealing colour palettes, there was a lot more scope for the film to be wittier and funnier. While dialogues and music play an important part to add life to any animation film, both end up being lackluster here.
Despite employing a live action-animation format, the focus throughout is to exaggerate the super-heroism of Ajay Devgn and in process the animated avatars kinda take backseat. He takes the spotlight to such an extent that every other actor, including even Kajol, end up doing mere special appearances. While the kids could have contributed to good measure in a genre like this, even they remain underutilized. If nothing else, at least the animated antagonist could have been a strong opponent to the hero. Sadly there is no buildup or background account to this villain who is instantaneously introduced in the final reels for the concluding combat.
The screenplay fails to evade classic clichés like the villain kidnapping the hero's family in the climax. The videogame mode final fight isn't bad but the viewer is no more Aparachit to Matrix stunts and Mummy styled special effects. And one wonders what a busty-babe caricature is doing in a film targeted largely at children?
Ajay Devgn is decent but Kajol gets no scope. The animated characters are adorable though not exploited to their potential. Guppy and Big Ben are funny while the Sardar kid is cute. Voiceovers of yesteryear actors Johnny Walker and Jeevan are employed to amusing effect.
Toonpur Ka Superhero ends up being superb on simulation but slack on animation script-sense. This film ascertains that India is certainly 'not bad' in the animation genre but there is still time to win the 'good' tag.