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Post by Admin on Apr 6, 2023 21:48:19 GMT -8
Season 5 of Looney Tunes Cartoons dropped on HBO Max today (or yesterday, depending on your time zone) and I totally forgot about it!  Oops... Watch it here. |
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Post by fonebone on Apr 29, 2023 15:07:27 GMT -8
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Skyscraper Scrap / Balloon Salesman: Feeling Down / The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea"
Skyscraper Scrap
I loved it. Ingenious use of a classical waltz and no dialogue. The animation and character expressions have to do all the work, and since they are great, the cartoon works like gangbusters. *****.
Balloon Salesman: Feeling Down
Don't love these. **1/2.
The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
Awful. Aside from the nonending existing because the writers weren't good enough at their jobs to think of a good one, I think Fred Tatasciore sounds ALL wrong for Taz. They should have kept Jim Cummings if you ask me (although few people do). *1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Crumb And Get It / Bugs Hole Gags 2: Mini Bugs / Construction Obstruction"
Crumb And Get It
Those old 60's Seven Arts cartoons sure had weird animation. Almost wish they had done the entire episode in this style. Better yet, I wish they had brought back Cool Cat and Bunny and Claude instead.
Still, although Daffy IS still a bit loony, they DID sort of bring back his hapless selfish persona from the 1960's as a tribute to the era. ****.
Bugs Hole Gags 2: Mini Bugs
They must be Liliputting us on. ***1/2.
Construction Obstruction
For a short supposedly taking shots at both gentrification and Trump, the cartoon feels mildly toothless. I think the most cutting gag is actually Bugs declaring his land being stolen Unamerican. And then wondering if that's actually the most American thing ever. Would that the rest of the satire were as sharp as that. **1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Yosemite Samurai / Bugs Hole Gags 2: Bees Nest / Dummies In The Dark"
Yosemite Samurai
Weak sauce, man. Lousy. Although to be brutally honest, if Bugs Bunny's current voice actor wasn't Asian, I might have found it offensive instead. **.
Bugs Hole Gags 2: Bees Nest
Funny? Ish? ***.
Dummies In The Dark
Great visuals on this one. Some new, neat, and creative uses for the ol' "eyeballs in the dark" gags too. ****.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Pain Rent / Nest Effort"
Pain Rent
I prefer the cute little kid Gossamer from The Looney Tunes Show. **1/2.
Nest Effort
There was some nice animation in Daffy eating that sandwich.
I'll tell you why this show doesn't work for me in 2023. I actually nitpick the logic holes. I was like "If Elmer HAD actually set up a new nest for Daffy this problem would be over". Stuff like this is probably why the show has been struggling to connect to modern audiences, despite being so similar to the old shorts. I think our standards have simply changed. ***.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Feather Of The Bride / Daffy Magician: Pick A Card / Bugs Hole Gags 2: Rattlesnakes"
Feather Of The Bride
I hate Foghorn Leghorn with a passion but it's fun to see him punished.
I liked Miss Prissy's father. "Checkmate, I guess," made me laugh (it was NOT a Looney Tunes line) but I must point out the move was NOT actually a Checkmate. 2 Kings can pretty much only Stalemate each other.
Funny. ***1/2.
Daffy Magician: Pick A Card
I used to know some cool card tricks as a kid. ***1/2.
Bugs Hole Gags 2: Rattlesnakes
I was bored with this. **.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Poolside Pest / Put The Cat Out: Inside Out / Bulls-Eye Bunny"
Poolside Pest
Funny ending. But I think my problem is I don't recall Elmer Fudd being so personally repulsive in the original shorts. He was hapless, and stupid, and on occasion malicious. But he wasn't the same as Yosemite Sam. And the new cartoons seem to think he is.
But still, nice ending. ***1/2.
Put The Cat Out: Inside Out
Here is another reason the show and concept feels a bit dated. Does anybody actually put their cat out anymore? The show seems to be geared towards young children who were born in the 1940's. It's no wonder it hasn't set the world on-fire with modern kids. **.
Bulls-Eye Bunny
I appreciated that Bugs never got untied from the Bullseye by the end. Looney Tunes almost never has believably continuity so it was noticed by me. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Auto Birdy Shop / Daffy Traffic Cop Stop: Phone Booth / Eyes Wide Fudd"
Auto Birdy Shop
Y'know, if they had June Foray actin' gangsta and talking street, it might have been funny, simply by virtue of it being Foray. There is no "poor taste" boundary limit testing by having Candi Milo do it. It's lame and cringe instead.
If another actor did Avery Bullock's line on American Dad, it wouldn't actually be funny. He's only funny because of the things the show actually gets Sir Patrick Stewart to say. If there was a certain level of vulnerable bravery in having Foray do this, there might be some fun in it. It's terrible comedy instead without the history Foray brought to the role.
Similarly, I wish Foray had lived to do Space Jam: A New Legacy. Yeah, she would been like 110, but she would have rocked that version. **1/2.
Daffy Traffic Cop Stop: Phone Booth
I dislike it because the cartoon physics are totally shoddy. If somebody pitched Chuck Jones the phone booth idea for the Roadrunner he would have sent it right back to the drawing board with the note, "Needs work". *.
Eyes Wide Fudd
Fun Fact. Kind of neat that the guy who did the voice for Opera Daffy directed the episode.
I love the idea that Daffy doesn't understand Elmer's speech impediment either.
I also loved Daffy saying he used his own ink. "Can you believe we're made of this stuff?"
Funny. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Livin' The Daydream / Duck Hunting Gag: Holograms / Fake It 'Til You Bake It"
Livin' The Daydream
Ralph Plillips, huh?
Why is Looney Tunes Cartoons sometimes a GOOD show? Because it will take chances and do an unexpected cartoon like this, using a fringe character and different art style. That has value to me. The real irony is that this specific cartoon isn't actually very good. But I love the show for making it.
And a straight up homage to Batman: The Animated Series? Whatever the cartoon's other faults, I'm not made of freaking stone. ****.
Duck Hunting Gag: Holograms
Meta silliness. We are allowed to show Elmer with the gun. He just has to throw it away before he can shoot it. Standards have changed. You said it, Fudd. ****1/2.
Fake It 'Til You Bake It
Why is Looney Tunes Cartoons sometimes a BAD show? Because while The Looney Tunes Show took a majorly despised character like Lola Bunny and turned her into the best character out of spite, and just to prove that they could, this show takes a boring character like Petunia, and turns her into the worst character on the show instead. Says everything about both shows' priorities regarding female characters.
You know what? I take that back. Petunia isn't the worst character on this show. Cicero is. Amazingly, both of the worst characters are pigs and Porky-adjacent. He does not bring out the best in his peers.
Ugh. *.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Funny Book / Balloon Salesman: All The Balloons / Kitty Krashers"
Funny Book
"Ain't I An Inker?"
Shows 80 years later Looney Tunes can still do an original high-concept premise with great animation and visual gags. That being said, I can't help but think it's partly a shot at creator driven webcomics. The idea that a novice creator like Fudd's artistic aspirations boil down to narcissism and vanity seems to be a veiled slam at creators without professional training or income. For obvious reasons, I don't dig that bit.
Still pretty amazing though. ****1/2.
Balloon Salesman
Chuck Jones would be rolling over in his grave. Another cartoon physics failure. Cartoons don't actually need TOO many rules to function, but they DO need SOME. This cartoon is simply badly designed. *1/2.
Kitty Krashers
Sylvester didn't actually win at the end, but he did better than most other cartoons he's appeared in over the decades.
Beside Hubert and Bertie, I also caught Sniffles' cameo. I seem to recall him being the worst Looney Tunes character of all time back in the day. Wonder how he'd size up to Petunia now.
Funny. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
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Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2023 16:16:14 GMT -8
Season 6 premieres July 27.
Well, that was quick. The wait between new episode drops is usually way longer than that.
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2023 12:00:11 GMT -8
Season 6 is up now on Max!
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Post by fonebone on Jul 28, 2023 16:56:31 GMT -8
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Birthday Grifts / Daffy Magician: Vintage Porkys / Tub-o-War"
Birthday Grifts
Not feeling it. On the one hand the improvement this has on the old cartoons is that a lot of the violence is more extreme, disturbing, shocking, and funnier. The problem is the writing is lazy. Nobody minded that in the old cartoons, but I mean Bugs apparently spent a fortune on a new car, house and yacht just to trick Elmer into going to a nuclear test site to kill him. Great investment there, Bugs.
Wouldn't it simply have been easier (and cheaper) to plan the nice party he promised instead? Why am I supposed to think of him spending a fortune to kill this clear loser is some sort of karmic victory? It makes no sense.
Sorry, I have higher standards that this show is not meeting. *1/2.
Daffy Magician: Vintage Porkys
This short however is a keeper. Wonderful to see all the classic Porky styles. The only character with a more pronounced design evolution than him is Elmer / Egghead. *****.
Tub-o-War
I was all set to like this. And then I didn't. Which is totally on brand for how disappointing this show is.
I thought Marvin the Martian giving K-9 a bath would have been great comedy. What I loved about the idea the most is it's not a premise that EVER would have occurred to the original creators, so the show had a RARE opportunity to actually one-up Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng. And it turns out the cartoon isn't even about that.
I love that the show Duck Dodger played up the similarities between Marvin and K-9 and Mickey and Pluto more than once. We finally could have seen a REAL tribute to that, and it's stupid nonsense instead. That's what kills me. The show doesn't HAVE to be underwhelming. It is on purpose. I think it thinks because the stories of the old shorts were basic and lacked any sort of nuance, that's what modern audiences crave. And that's the show entirely misreading why we love the old shorts. We love them in spite of the fact that the writing is lazy and often stupid. Not BECAUSE of it. It feels like this show is paying tribute to the wrong things.
Disappointing. That could have been a great cartoon. The premise that was promised certainly was. It's comedy malpractice they didn't actually deliver. *.
Episode Overall: **.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Oregon Fail / Duck Hunting Gag: Duck Call / Life's A Beach"
Good meta moment: Pointing out that the 100,000 dollar pricetag was actually ridiculous and unfeasable in the 1800's.
Bad meta moment: Bugs pointing out electricity hasn't been invented yet. That is like the laziest joke a cartoon set in the past could make. Maybe if this were the first cartoon to ever make that joke, fine (the 100 grand joke was all right because although Austin Powers has poked fun at the value of currencies in different time periods, it's never done it exactly that way). But it's old-hat and cliche instead.
So-so cartoon. ***.
Duck Hunting Gag: Duck Call
I saw the Monty Python Foot ending coming a mile away, but it was the right ending, so I won't raise a stink over it. ****.
Life's A Beach
I squealed in excitement! A Three Bears cartoon!
It was a travesty. Every inch of it felt it wrong. Why?
Family Guy did a joke about that because Jim Henson died young of a treatable illness, now we have "wrong-sounding Muppets". That's what the Three Bears currently are: Wrong-sounding Muppets. There is no getting over the fact that their voices sound off. You can live with different interpretations of Bugs and Daffy because their actors have years for you to get used to it. Because this is the first Three Bears cartoon in decades, everybody sounds completely wrong.
I will also point out that the animation is weirdly MUCH better than it was in those cartoons. That's not something I ought to take points off of for, but it's another reason this doesn't fit in with the other Three Bears shorts in any way, shape or form.
Also, seeing the Three Bears in a moderns lens puts them in a different light for me. It's not Pa having to put up with his annoying family. If you ask me, Pa is actually the entire problem. Yeah, Junior's dumb, and Ma has her head in the clouds. But neither of those things should provoke his level of rage of having him ask what he did to deserve this family, and for him to mimic a suicide over it. If anything, Ma and Junior should be lamenting what they did to deserve HIM.
That was wrong. Wocka, wocka, who wants to hear some funny-ass jokes? *.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Pearl Of My Dreams / Bugs Hole Gag 2: Down The Drain / Mech-A-Mess"
Pearl Of My Dreams
That was a great disgusted expression they gave Daffy as he's turning the air pump crank. Worked like gangbusters.
I also liked "balo-balo-balo-shenanigans." It's always SO weird what words Porky's stutter can overcome. ****.
Bugs Hole Gag 2: Down The Drain
Nothing special. But nothing terrible either. Middling. ***.
Mech-A-Mess
Admittedly, Chuck Jones never did THIS one. Iron Man movies were a bit after his time.
I liked the drawing of "Iron Suit" in the comic book two. Real expressive.
And we get an X-Files reference at the end? In Looney Tunes? Just why the hell not? I won't tell if you don't. ****.
Episode Overall: ****.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Boarding Games / Put The Cat Our: Paintings / Winter Hungerland"
Boarding Games
Marc Anthony and Pussy Foot? Those are some Looney Tunes Deep Cuts.
I love that Marc loves and wants to protect Pussy Foot. I do too. Is that from the original cartoons? It's an original and refreshing idea.
I noticed Sam the Sheepdog in the prison kennel as well as a dog that look suspiciously like Rover Dangerfield.
Ultra rare Looney Tunes with a happy ending. Yay! Cute! *****.
Put The Cat Out: Paintings
Meh. **1/2.
Winter Hungerland
Sam and Ralph! I love that both cartoons in this episode featured lesser known or used characters. I wish the earlier seasons did this more.
It's weird but decades later the time card bit and Sam and Ralph being friends who like each other off-duty never gets old. For some reason, the office politics nature of it makes it feel like the one Looney Tunes bit that holds up in the modern era.
Not exactly a HAPPY ending this time out, per se, but at least a NICE one. That counts as a victory too, I guess. ****1/2.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Tweet Suite / Daffy Magician: Cut In Half / Desert Menu"
Tweet Suite:
Honestly? That ending was WAY too dark. **.
Daffy Magician: Cut In Half
The best Looney Tunes add an element of, if not realism, than credibility, to their slapstick stuff. It's why Chuck Jones' Roadrunner cartoons were so effective and funny. This? It's stupid ill-thought out nonsense. Not digging it. Remotely. **.
Desert Menu
I love this Beaky Buzzard! He's smarter than he used to be, says funny, weirdly observational things, and his facial expressions animate like crazy. Very cool. ****.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Abducted Bunny / Daffy Psychic: A New Job / Duck Hunting Gag: Decoy / Daffy Magician: Skeleton"
Abducted Bunny
I appreciate that the show isn't under the same restrictions the old cartoons were. The gushing blood joke can be described and it's funny. That being said, the ending is too dark and violent. I appreciate this has more freedom than the classic shorts. But that goes too far.
I love Bugs actually apologizing to Marvin because brain extractors make him nervous.
The animation on the abduction at the beginning was freaking tight! Sweet!
A little much, by the end. ***.
Daffy Psychic: A New Job
The angry husband can't tell the difference between a duck and a pig? Really? I HATE crap like that. *.
Duck Hunting Gag: Decoy
We can still SEE the gun, even if Elmer can't use it for the reasons described. ***.
Daffy Magician: Skeleton
I'd be inclined to call this one too dark too, but the talking skeleton at the end struck me as weird instead. **1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Feline Lucky / Prickly Pair"
The comedy didn't work. It felt a little too obvious and cliched.
That being said, I liked the twist ending that Granny's lucky pet was actually a vicious Rottweiler. Who now owns Sylvester for some reason. Oh, well. I guess we all currently live in Hell. ***.
Prickly Pair
I love the return of Beaky's Italian mother.
On Rocko's Modern Life, Spunky the dog once fell in love with a mop. Here Beaky falls in love with a cactus. Spunky has better taste in women.
The flexing moment was funnier than it had any right to be.
Hey, Beaky, there are women in the 1940's who believe the love song you are crooning is way too square. Oftentimes I see the old-timey gags on this show and am like "Who is this actually for?"
I mentioned the cartoons are more permissive. Aside from the fact that they'd never be able to get away with this specific premise before now, even if it somehow slipped by Leon Schlesinger, after the kiss, there is NO way there would be cactus spines on Beaky's tongue. Thank you TV-PG ratings on streaming! That's actually funny. ****1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Wrong With The Wind / Daffy Magician: Pigs Feet / Moody At The Movies"
Wrong With The Wind
This cartoon didn't interest me much but I liked the happy ending with Daffy and Porky. Hella rare for that. ***.
Daffy Magician: Pigs Feet
Dark, man. Dark. **1/2.
Moody At The Movies
All right! Another crack at the Three Bears! Let's see if I can get used to the new voices yet!
Baby is all right, but Ma and Pa are still 100% wrong-sounding Muppets. Personally, I blame Jim Henson's wait-and-see attitude. *.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Boardwalk Bunny / Duck Hunting Gag: Crossbow / Cat Fished"
Boardwalk Bunny
It's interesting, that with perhaps the exception of the hammer bit at the end, none of Bugs' victories against Sam were due to maliciousness on Bugs' end for once. Either Sam defeated himself, or karma itself took a firmer hand against what he was doing. Bugs' role was was unusually passive.
Interesting. ***.
Duck Hunting Gag: Crossbow
Loved Daffy's :"What'd I miss?" Dude should be in Hamilton. ****.
Cat Fished
So this is apparently the stupidest freaking thing I have ever seen.
And Granny in the negligee? Does this show actually WANT me to hate it? Because I'm getting there.
I find it SO weird that Granny doesn't actually own Sylvester on this show. It's makes the dynamics less confusing and less interesting to make Granny and Tweety purely the good guys and Sylvester purely the bad guy.
Stolen valor, Sly? Rhymes with slick move.
God, every inch of that cartoon was repulsive. Bad place to leave the "season" off at. 0.
Episode Overall: **.
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Post by allenj on Aug 2, 2023 12:26:45 GMT -8
Birthday Grifts Not feeling it. On the one hand the improvement this has on the old cartoons is that a lot of the violence is more extreme, disturbing, shocking, and funnier. The problem is the writing is lazy. Nobody minded that in the old cartoons, but I mean Bugs apparently spent a fortune on a new car, house and yacht just to trick Elmer into going to a nuclear test site to kill him. Great investment there, Bugs. Wouldn't it simply have been easier (and cheaper) to plan the nice party he promised instead? Why am I supposed to think of him spending a fortune to kill this clear loser is some sort of karmic victory? It makes no sense. Sorry, I have higher standards that this show is not meeting. *1/2. Apparently some parts of this cartoon were animated in-house at WBA rather than overseas or in Canada, and the difference is quite noticeable. Bugs almost seemed to resemble his classic 40s McKimson look at times, as in this clip: www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/233450
I don't know, I thought Junior Bear's voice was pretty spot-on. The only one that sounded noticeably off to me was Mama Bear.
One of the Larry Doyle shorts from 2003 had nearly the exact same plot as this one, and Bugs was pretty passive there too. There was even a similar "rabbit's feet" joke.
Well, I've got some bad news for you: this is apparently going to be the last batch of new shorts. And while I didn't hate the final cartoon as much as you did, it was still a pretty weak note to end the show on (though I do appreciate that the Tweety shorts in this batch at least played around with the formula a bit more than usual).
Oddly, a stop motion short with Daffy and the Do-Do was apparently screened at Annecy earlier this year, but is nowhere to be found in the new batch. That would've been interesting to see, as I don't believe the Looney Tunes characters have ever been done in stop motion before. Hopefully it gets released somewhere down the line.
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Post by fonebone on Aug 3, 2023 1:09:11 GMT -8
Birthday Grifts Not feeling it. On the one hand the improvement this has on the old cartoons is that a lot of the violence is more extreme, disturbing, shocking, and funnier. The problem is the writing is lazy. Nobody minded that in the old cartoons, but I mean Bugs apparently spent a fortune on a new car, house and yacht just to trick Elmer into going to a nuclear test site to kill him. Great investment there, Bugs. Wouldn't it simply have been easier (and cheaper) to plan the nice party he promised instead? Why am I supposed to think of him spending a fortune to kill this clear loser is some sort of karmic victory? It makes no sense. Sorry, I have higher standards that this show is not meeting. *1/2. Apparently some parts of this cartoon were animated in-house at WBA rather than overseas or in Canada, and the difference is quite noticeable. Bugs almost seemed to resemble his classic 40s McKimson look at times, as in this clip: www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/233450
I don't know, I thought Junior Bear's voice was pretty spot-on. The only one that sounded noticeably off to me was Mama Bear.
One of the Larry Doyle shorts from 2003 had nearly the exact same plot as this one, and Bugs was pretty passive there too. There was even a similar "rabbit's feet" joke.
Well, I've got some bad news for you: this is apparently going to be the last batch of new shorts. And while I didn't hate the final cartoon as much as you did, it was still a pretty weak note to end the show on (though I do appreciate that the Tweety shorts in this batch at least played around with the formula a bit more than usual).
Oddly, a stop motion short with Daffy and the Do-Do was apparently screened at Annecy earlier this year, but is nowhere to be found in the new batch. That would've been interesting to see, as I don't believe the Looney Tunes characters have ever been done in stop motion before. Hopefully it gets released somewhere down the line.
I did mention in the second Three Bears review that Junior sounded all right. |
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