The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
DVD Review by Jon Cooke
DVD Review by Jon Cooke
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looneytunes.com |
Even though I will readily admit that viewing the classic Warner Bros. shorts in compilation movies such as 1981's The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie isn't the best way to experience them, I just can't bring myself to be too hard on what are basically feature-length clip shows. The reason is mostly nostalgia. These movies were among my first exposure to Looney Tunes and helped me get familiar with the characters back when I was a kid. Even today, these movies are still a great way to introduce youngsters to the antics of Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and friends.
Looney, Looney... was the second of five compilation movies featuring the classic characters released by Warner Brothers from 1979 to 1988. These movies were relatively inexpensive to produce and, while only getting limited exposure in theaters, would turn a profit thanks to becoming staples on television and home video. Following in the footsteps of Chuck Jones' The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979), fellow director Friz Freleng put together a similar film featuring his most famous shorts with new material linking them all together. Freleng's movie, split into three "acts," plays like three episodes of The Bugs Bunny Show shown back-to-back. As a result, it holds up a bit better than some of the movies that followed (1982's Bugs Bunny's 1001 Rabbit Tales, 1983's Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island) which shoehorned the cartoons into one giant, often half-baked, storyline.
Act I covers some familiar ground for Freleng. In fact, he had done this same "Yosemite Sam goes to hell" plot twice before this movie (in a 1961 episode of The Bugs Bunny Show and again in the 1962 theatrical short, "Devil's Feud Cake"). In it, Yosemite Sam is killed (crushed by safe dropped by Bugs in footage from "Hare Trimmed") and is given a series of chances by Satan to try to bring someone (Bugs) back to hell to take his (Sam's) place. This leads to footage from such classic Bugs/Yosemite films as "Roman Legion-Hare", "Sahara Hare" and "Wild and Woolly Hare".
Act II expands upon the premise of the 1963 short, "The Unmentionables". Bugs plays agent "Elegant Mess " attempting to bring the notorious gangsters, Rocky and Mugsy, to justice. Also making appearances in this segment (via classic footage, of course) are Daffy Duck and Porky Pig ("Golden Yeggs") and Sylvester and Tweety ("Catty Cornered"). I have to admit, the new punchline gag for "Golden Yeggs" may be funnier than the one that ended the original cartoon!
Finally in Act III, the entire Looney Tunes cast attends the "Oswald Awards", honoring the finest performers in the cartoon world. Nominees include the Big Bad Wolf ("Three Little Bops"), Tweety and Sylvester (the Oscar-winning "Birds Anonymous"), and Bugs ("High Diving Hare"). This third act concludes with some Bugs vs. Daffy on-stage rivalry ("Show Biz Bugs").
Bonus features are three new-to-DVD cartoons from recent years: "Box Office Bunny" (1990) with Bugs, Elmer and Daffy; "From Hare to Eternity" (1997) with Bugs and Yosemite Sam; and "Pullet Surprise" (1997) with Foghorn Leghorn and Pete Puma.
Even though the best way to watch these cartoons are in the original form (you can find most of these Freleng classics among the six Golden Collection sets), movies like The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie still serve their purpose which is familiarizing kids with the famous Warner Bros. stable of characters. I can also recommend this disc if you want to revisit Freleng's feature for nostalgia's sake or if you are a diehard collector who wants to get their hands on the trio of new-to-DVD cartoons. Either way, the inexpensive price makes this a pretty harmless impulse buy.
