Lickety-Splat

'Lickety-Splat' is one of the funniest cartoons in the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote series. The Coyote, who introduces himself as Apetitis Giganticus and the Road Runner as Fastius Tasty-us, is trying to catch the bird with a bow, a rifle, a boomerang that guarantees to come back and some exploding darts.

This cartoon is written and directed by Chuck Jones so you know it will be at least entertaining. This one is more than that. Especially the gag with the exploding darts is terrific. The darts appear more often than you would think but they get a laugh every single time. With nice animation and music that suits the cartoon this is one of the better one to find.

As has been said many times by me already, the Roadrunner/Wile E Coyote series is mostly very enjoyable, with exception of a vast majority of the Rudy Larriva-directed cartoons, the best ones are classics.

'Lickety Splits' is one of the best of the later cartoons and those who say that it is one of the funniest of the series this reviewer completely agrees with.

The animation is very nicely done, with fluid character designs (Coyote never fails to delight with his facial expressions), vibrant colours and simple (though never simplistic) but lovingly drawn backgrounds. Milt Franklyn doesn't disappoint either, it's lushly and cleverly orchestra and is lively rhythmically, Carl Stalling may have enhanced the action more but Franklyn's scoring consistently has a lot of character and fits well.

The gags here are very funny and often hilarious, the bow and arrow gag is deliciously entertaining but the highlight is the recurring darts gag which is one of the funniest and most inventive of all Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons. The story is formulaic, but is never dull and told with much fun and charm.

Roadrunner is amusing but Coyote as always bags all the laughs and is the funnier and more interesting of the two.

Overall, absolutely wonderful. Fans of the series will not be disappointed. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Another fun Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote short from the great Chuck Jones. As with all the shorts in this series, the plot's as simple as they come: the Coyote chases the Road Runner and tries to catch or kill him through various means. He never succeeds, of course, but we love to watch him fail. There are some funny gags in this one, including a fun bow & arrow gag and a recurring one with these little dart bombs. The animation is crisp and colorful with some nice backgrounds. There's a little bit near the beginning I love. One of Wile E.'s ears bends and scratches his head, then his eyes turn into light bulbs as he gets an idea. It's a nice little Jones-ism. A solid Road Runner cartoon I'm sure most fans will enjoy.

Standard Roadrunner fare, but with an inspired Jones touch: the early failed Wile E. plan with the exploding darts proves to be an effective running gag, as they continue to interfere with each subsequent effort (often to surprising effect).

Wily Coyote tries everything he can to catch Roadrunner and get himself a decent meal for once. He tries skis of roller skates, rockets, catapults and all manner of traps. Things aren't going well, but when he unleashes a box load of missiles with explosives built in things just go from bad to worse.

The plot summary of every Roadrunner film could almost be the same - so really, to stand out as different, each one needs a hook that is above and beyond the usual material. Here the film goes the road of having the usual gags until about a quarter of the way into the film. At this point, Coyote unleashes a group of rockets at Roadrunner - all of which miss but stay in the air. For the rest of the cartoon he tries his usual tricks but is frustrated at each turn by one of his own rockets turning up to burn him!

This doesn't sound hilarious but it actually is. Normally Coyote/Roadrunner are pretty funny but this running joke just adds to the usual material by a couple of degrees. I'll be honest and say that any WB cartoon made in or very near the 60's tend to worry me a bit, but this one was a very nice surprise and had me laughing out loud at times. The characters are both good but it is Coyote who gets the best laughs and basically leaves Roadrunner just an anonymous streak in the distance.

Overall, the usual jokes are here and they are funny, but what make this even funnier is the mixing into this material of the running gag involving the rockets. I was laughing out loud - a great little film!