Soup or Sonic

By all means it is never going to be one of my favourite Looney Tunes cartoons. The rocket gag was stupid and not very funny, and the first half does read of some decent gags but you know the outcome as it does have a very similar feel to the standard Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons. The animation I was mixed on, both Roadrunner and Coyote are drawn well but some of the backgrounds did look on the washed-out and sparse side. However, the music is full of character and energy, and Roadrunner and Coyote are both fun to watch, as cunning as he is I can't help feeling sorry for Coyote. The second half of Soup or Sonic picks up significantly, the pace is crisper, the gags more imaginative and the story is much more unexpected. The giant fly-paper gag is really wonderful and one of the better ones for me in the RR/C cartoons. The ending is very surreal and unexpected and in a good way, showing that different can mean good. All in all, a very good cartoon on the most part even if the second half is better than the first one. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon is just your standard Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon. It's famous because it's where the coyote finally catches Road Runner, though the way he does may not be what your fantasizing about if you haven't seen it. Strange gags and rusty animation--probably because it was made for television in a less extreme form of still animation--are probably the main reason for some negative reviews and low ratings on this one. The rocket gag, I must say, is more than just stupid; it's probably the most mediocre and lousy attempt at comedy by Jones I've ever seen. The coyote uses signs by the ton--unusual but funny. The ending is probably the best of all of them, rivalled maybe only by Guided Muscle (1955) and Zip 'N' Snort (1961). The Road Runner cartoons are supposed to be based on the unlucky attempts of a predator to get a square meal and a hefty dose of cruel irony. The series executes the theme better than any other. Same with Soup or Sonic. Not classic, but good by global standards. At least it's lightyears ahead of the crap pieces of @$%* by the DePatie-Freleng studio!

This cartoon is amateurish in every sense of the word. Many people give it high marks because the Coyote finally "catches" the Road Runner, but the whole production is the work of a novice animation team (Jones notwithstanding). There is no continuity in this short. Granted, C/RR shorts all consist of a collection of 15 - 30 second vignettes, but they maintain a loose confederacy. In this one, there is no such feel.

The aminators took short cuts and it shows. For example, in one scene the Coyote STRADDLES a red rocket and lights it to chase the Road Runner, the rocket shoots away leaving just a collapsed shell and Wile E. plummets to the desert floor sitting SIDE SADDLE on the shell - a highly noticeable continuity error that one would NEVER see in earlier WB shorts. To compound it, in a later scene Wile E. again goes off a cliff and the SAME falling sequence (Wile E. side saddle on the rocket shell) is used. The problem is, there was no rocket when the Coyote went over the edge the second time.

The facial expressions are not genuine. The reactions to events and actions do not ring with the truth or the sardonic bite of earlier cartoons. Timing is non-existent. The orchestrations are not well sequenced with the on-screen action. There are so many problems here that space prohibits naming them all.

The C/RR cartoons are some of the greatest bits of comedic animation in cinematic history, but this one is terrible, and not just in relation to the earlier superior cartoons. Currently produced amination like Spongebob Squarepants and Johnny Bravo put this cartoon to shame. Jones would probably like to forget this one.

While "Soup or Sonic" continues the epic tale of Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner, much of the cartoon remains pretty repetitive, namely Wile E.'s various gags with the rocket. But the end is when the really cool part arrives. I couldn't have predicted that in a million years! I guess that overall, this one (along with "Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2 Century" and "Spaced-Out Bunny") were Warner Bros.'s TV attempts at imitating theater-style cartoons. I wouldn't have recommended doing that. Not a great cartoon, but OK. As long as they had Mel Blanc providing the voices, it passed.

How did he get into that line of work? I'm not totally certain, but it seems like some sources have asserted that he works for the ACME corporation.

Originally part of the TV special Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over, this later (and lesser) cartoon by Chuck Jones is yet another exercise in nostalgia, repeating old gags while offering little that's new. What is new and stands out the most about this cartoon is the final gag, which you'll either think is funny or dumb. I hate the sign jokes in a Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon so whatever humor there was in the climax was lost on me due to the signs. The thing I hated most about this was the way the music and sound effects are so loud and obtrusive. In the classic shorts the music flowed with the action and the sound effects enhanced the animation. Here it's typical cheesy TV quality stuff that feels disconnected from the art and tacked-on. And did I mention loud? Because it's frigging annoyingly loud. I didn't think this was a particularly good cartoon but it was the best of the new material produced for the TV special. Certainly the best animation-wise. Road Runner & Coyote are clearly Chuck Jones' babies so it's no surprise he tried harder with this one than the other two lame Bugs cartoons.