Common Sense Note
This movie includes some of the greatest cartoons of all time. Comic animation is matched with unusually literate dialogue. Scored by the great Carl Stalling. One segment features Bugs and Elmer Fudd in a spoof of Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung opera cycle, exposing kids to the potential joys of classical music. Grade-school kids will enjoy the adventures of these popular characters, but some parents may find aspects of the humor questionable, such as the over-the-top violence and some character's greediness and mean-spiritedness. Preteens will get a kick out of this feature compilation. Teens will get a similar kick, and adults will feel warmly nostalgic. Families who watch this video may want to discuss other forms of animation that each family member likes. Why do these classics hold up?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Paul Trandahl
Bugs Bunny lounges at home and discusses his career, focusing on his collaborations with cartoon director Chuck Jones. From this point, the movie becomes a compilation of several classic Jones shorts, with introductions provided by Bugs.
First off is "Hare-way to the Stars," one of Bugs' many encounters with Marvin the Martian, followed by "Duck Dodgers in the 24th½ Century," in which Daffy also battles the pint-sized alien. In "Long Haired Hare," Bugs has an encounter with a pompous opera singer, and then makes his own opera appearance in the Wagner spoof, "What's Opera Doc?"
Some of the other cartoon classics featured here are "Duck Amuck," "Bully for Bugs," and "Rabbit Fire." In "Operation: Rabbit," Bugs meets up with Wile E. Coyote, which leads into a series of highlights from various Road Runner cartoons.
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie was the first in a series of Warner Bros. cartoon features in which classic theatrical shorts -- many of the most highly regarded in animation history -- were compiled and linked together via newly animated segments.
Focusing on the work of the legendary Chuck Jones (How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) from the peak of his career, it's hard to go wrong with titles like "What's Opera Doc?" and "Ali Baba Bunny," in which precise comic timing is combined with surprisingly literate dialogue. Great moments are abundant: Daffy Duck's growing hysteria as his world is repeatedly obliterated by a malicious animator in "Duck Amuck;" Daffy's greedy meltdown in "Ali Baba Bunny;" Bugs and Elmer singing a ludicrous love duet as they cavort against the striking rock formations of "What's Opera Doc?"
In cramming these shorts into a feature format, however, the opening titles to the cartoons have been eliminated; kids won't mind, but animation buffs will. Even worse, a few of them -- such as "Robin Hood Daffy" and "Long Haired Hare" -- have had major chunks edited out, dulling their impact. The Road Runner sequence is a hodgepodge of highlights from several cartoons, and while definitely entertaining, the material worked better in its original form.
Still, many of these cartoons are currently unavailable anywhere but on this collection, and that alone makes The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie worth having.
Anyone looking for more straightforward Looney Tunes cartoon collections is advised to check out Big Top Bunny and Marvin the Martian: Space Tunes
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentBugs dresses as a sexy woman to get the drop on Elmer Fudd in two cartoons. There's one Pepe Le Pew cartoon in which the skunk doggedly pursues a female cat, even when it's clear she wants nothing to do with him. |
 |
 |
||
ViolenceWarner Bros. cartoons and violence go together like bacon and eggs. Characters are shot, blown up, dropped off cliffs -- but all live to be abused another day. The movie contains an infamous gag involving the rearrangement of Daffy's beak after he's blasted in the face with a shotgun. |
|
|
||
Language |
|
|
||
Message |
|
 |
||
Social BehaviorThe movie gives us Daffy at his most greedy and egotistical. He attempts to get Bugs killed by Elmer in one segment, and tries to steal Arabian treasure in another. |
 |
 |
||
CommercialismThis is part of the Warner Bro. cartoon juggernaut that includes videost-shirts, backpacks, and dolls, among others. |
|
 |
||
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
||
