Whoa, Be-Gone!

Despite some duds in the later years (mid to late 60s), when the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote series was at its best it was brilliant, even with the more-of-the-same stories they're mostly well-made, are very funny (uproariously so in the case of the best gags) and Coyote is one of Chuck Jones' best ever creations.

While not one of the best of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote series, Whoa Be-Gone! is still a great cartoon and very close to being a classic. The animation is very good, the colours are beautiful and rich, the gags and the reaction shots look great still and both characters look good, especially Coyote. The scenery and backgrounds are handsomely rendered too and there are very clever overhead shots that are both well-animated and priceless in humour. As always, Whoa, Be-Gone ! is wonderfully scored by Milt Franklyn as always, orchestration is sumptuously lush, rhythmically it's lively but never too busy, use of instruments is clever and appropriate and it's not just a good fit but adds a good deal to what's going on too.

Apart from ending ever so slightly abruptly, the sole fault of the cartoon, Whoa, Be-Gone! Is a very funny and at its best hilarious cartoon. The gags are not the most original, for this particular series they're pretty standard really, but with the imaginative they feel fresh. The tornado and especially barrel of dynamite gags are particularly strong. The story is formulaic, but very energetically paced and never feels dull or overly-predictable. The two characters fare wonderfully and work against each other just as well. Roadrunner is one-dimensional but very amusing (thankfully not annoying as one might fear), but Coyote has always been the funnier and more interesting of the two and he's on top form here, one of those characters where even just a facial expression is enough to split the sides laughing and he is easy to empathise for even for one as cunning as he is.

To conclude, a great cartoon that will be a treat for Roadrunner and Coyote fans. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Excellent Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short from Chuck Jones. Really vibrant, energetic animation in this one. The colors are bright and lush. The characters and backgrounds are well-drawn. The action scenes are just dynamite. The music is lively and upbeat. The best part of any Road Runner and Coyote cartoon are the wonderful gags, often featuring the products of the good people at ACME. Some of the better ones we have this time are a hilarious high wire stunt, ACME tornado seeds, and a recurring falling gag that never stops being funny. It's a great short and one of the best looking of the series. Chuck Jones fans will no doubt love it.

This wastes no time showing Wile E. Coyote (famishius vularis ingenious) chasing The Road Runner (birdius high-ballius). It begins in the opening credits, and only momentarily slows down after 100 seconds when the coyote comes up with this first plan.

Wile's idea - lets's catapult myself by throwing a boulder on the other end of this teeter- totter - winds up with our famished friend falling a thousand feet almost into the same imprint he left in the ground minutes earlier.

Before he falls a third time - he has a fatalistic approach by now -he puts a trampoline over that same spot.

I liked the names of the two Acme products he purchased for this one: the "Giant Rubberband For Tripping Road-Runners" kit and the "One Do-It-Yourself Tornado Kit" along with the gags of him getting out of a dynamite-rigged one nail at a time and the headgear for his ill-fated high-wire act.

It's the same old story but with some inventive ideas, new and funny schemes by the pathetic but never-say-die Wile.

This is another fine cartoon in the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote series. In this one the Coyote tries to catch the bird with an elastic string between two rocks, a big rocket, seeds that can create tornadoes, a barrel with dynamite and something you normally use in a circus. Of course every attempt ends with hurting himself instead of catching or killing the Road Runner.

This is a terrific cartoon. It is directed by Chuck Jones and that is enough to make a cartoon work. His timing is perfect with every gag. The sequence with the barrel and dynamite is the best example, especially the Coyote's eyes in the final moments are a nice detail. The gag with the thing normally used in the circus is perfect as well. Another fine cartoon.

Chuck Jones's 'Whoa Be Gone', the twelfth Road Runner cartoon, is at its best when it's playing with new ways to hurl the Coyote off a cliff. Early on in the cartoon, this is established as a running gag with the Coyote landing next to previous splat marks from earlier plummets and finally erecting a trampoline over the spot to save him from further falls (needless to say, it doesn't work). Where 'Whoa Be Gone' goes wrong is in backing down from this potentially brilliant running gag. The potential for a cartoon based around nothing more than different ways to get the Coyote to plummet off the same cliff onto the same bit of ground is enormous. Instead, 'Whoa Be Gone' leaves behind this premise and opts for some more standard gags, some of which are funny and some of which aren't. At the very least, the cliff falling gag should have been revisited for the finale. Instead, we get a very abrupt, weak and frankly strange ending in which the Road Runner drops from the sky dragging the That's All Folks screen on a drawstring. It doesn't work and acts as a disappointing climax to a cartoon that could have been so much more than the run of the mill effort that it is.