Bonkers

Bonkers is just old fashion silliness. It pokes fun at cartoons and old detective movies and movie industry decision making all in the style of Abott and Costello with corny jokes and puns. It makes fun of Disney cartoons in particular and has pulled in "cameos" by such classics as Ludwig Von Drake, Donald Duck, the Mad Hatter and has one entire episode about kidnapping the greatest toon mouse of all. The puns are never ending with characters names such as Lucky's wife, Dyl Piquel, or Bonkers' second partner, Miranda Wright. The toon slapstick is also nonstop such as the time they catch a toon impostor with "the banana test" because no true toon can resist slipping on a banana. This show is NOT educational any more than Marx Brothers; it is just plain corny humor which is IMHO what a cartoon is supposed to be.

There are only two cartoon series that meant the world to me in my childhood and this was one of them. I love this series so much. the writing was always ingenious, the characters were lovable, and it always left you with a good feeling and made you smile. But what sets this show apart from other also very good shows? its charm. its self aware charm. almost as if it knew it was a TV show and played to the audience. The idea of this show was already tried with Roger rabbit, but Bonkers pulled it off much better with a hilarious personality and lovability. the episodes where he's paired with piquel are hysterical and (IMO) better than the later ones with Miranda. they just had a sort of chemistry that was brilliant. if i had to nitpick, the only thing i DIDN'T like about this show was fall apart rabbit and the theme song. but other than that, this show is amazing, even to this day. It's incrediby sad that this series is not on DVD yet and i will be sure to buy it the moment it does. The cartoons of today need to take lessons from these amazing shows and go back to hand drawings. This show embodies my childhood and has near perfection status, with 10 wacky toons, out of 10.

First, I must say that the Disney Afternoon was the greatest lineup of television shows ever. Originally, when it consisted of Gummi Bears, Ducktales, Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers, and Talespin, it was perfect, but alas, new shows were created and old ones were removed. Other greats that followed were Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Aladdin, and Gargoyles. (Notice I did not mention Timon and Pumbaa, Schnookums & Meat, and Marsupilami because I think they were horrible, which is also why they didn't last as long as the other shows) Anyway, when I have time I'll put my individual comments about each of those shows. This one is for Bonkers.

Bonkers is a bobcat. He started as a famous Hollywood actor in the beginning of the show. The premise is sort of like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where humans and toons live together, especially in Hollywood. Bonkers' show gets cancelled and through a series of mixups with a policeman named Lucky Picquelle (hope I spelled that right), NOT PICKLE!, they became partners in a new division of the police squad called toon division.

Anyway, that is the plot, but that doesn't explain how hilarious this show is. First, I must say that Jim Cummings, the voice of Bonkers, and a billion other cartoon characters, especially for Disney, is one of the greatest voice artists, on par with Charles Fleischer and Mel Blanc (who provided voices for all of the Warner Brothers cartoon characters). Lucky is an overweight cop who does things by the book and likes silence and order in his life. However, Bonkers, being a cartoon character, and one who literally is "bonkers", makes his life and the entire show turn upside down and insane. Bonkers goes on rants where he's speaking at 100000 miles per second, without catching his breath, constantly moving all over the place, while Lucky is trying to calm himself down before he gets a heart attack. It's hard for me to explain how hilarious and great this show was/is, but you must see it for yourself. It's on Toon Disney every day and night, make sure you watch it with all of the other Toon Disney/old Disney Afternoon shows. See you at my next comment on the other shows.

Yet a good cartoon.

Its fun little show it could have been an iCON. Great animation. Verdict: go Bonkers.

I used to watch this show all the time. It's one of my all time favorites. Yeah, it's a kid's show. The cartoons are a little corny but that's just like kids... their jokes are corny. Bonkers is an adorable character but Fall-Apart is the better one. He is like Eyeor from Winnie the Pooh because he always had bad things happen. His legs, nose, ears fall off and he gets them put back on in the wrong positions. His partners changed and it still stayed cute. It's not a classic and it's not for serious people but it is great for an innocent laugh.