Fast and Furry-ous

Most of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons are great fun to watch, although the series generally ran out of gas in the 60s. Fast and Furry-ous is their debut and to this day is still one of their best and funniest cartoons.

The animation is great, some of the best of the series in fact. The colours are beautiful and vibrant, the backgrounds are simple but still very detailed and attractive, the physical comedy is all tightly edited and the character designs, while more elaborate for Coyote here than with his later and more famous look, are very nicely done and smooth. Music is courtesy of the consistently brilliant Carl Stalling, it doesn't disappoint here and I prefer his livelier and more richly orchestrated scoring to that of Bill Lava's in the later cartoons.

Fast and Furry-ous is also incredibly funny, one of the funniest of the entire Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons and this is all with no dialogue at all. The physical comedy is impressively animated and is never less than amusing, at its best hilarious, while the sight gags are equally terrific, the highlight being the refrigerator gag, one of the most original, elaborate and ingenious gags of any of the Roadrunner and Coyote series. The painting-the-tunnel-on-the-stone-wall gag works well too, even if it was repeated numerous other times throughout the series, and the razor sharp pacing helps. Who can't help love the Oliver Hardy-esque looks into the camera too? The story avoids being too repetitive or formulaic and the fresh material, as well as that it's their first cartoon, helps give a sense of originality.

Both characters work great together. Roadrunner is one-dimensional, but amusing and never annoying, but it is Coyote who is the funnier and more interesting character. Cunning yet very easy to sympathise for and with priceless facial expressions, he's one of Chuck Jones' best creations. Overall, a wonderful cartoon in all regards, and one of the best of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Fast and Furry-ous (1949)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

The first ever Coyote and Road Runner film turns out to be a very enjoyable one. As would become the norm, the Coyote is hungry and wanting to eat the Road Runner but he's simply not fast (or smart) enough to catch him. This first short has plenty of wonderful laughs as the violent action is constantly finding hilarious ways to injure the Coyote. One of my favorite gags in the film is when the Coyote pants the side of a mountain to appear like a road so that the Road Runner will kill himself by running into it but things don't work out as planned. Another funny jokes includes the Coyote making a ski machine to build up speed but of course this doesn't go as planned either. Director Jones was a fan of silent movies and that's easy to see with these shorts.

The Road Runner films form one of the most famous theatrical cartoon series ever. They are also some of the most hilarious in terms of visual comedy, and never get old. Though there is just a simple formula that is exploited throughout, and it is repetitive, it never goes bland. This also means no cartoon stands out, nothing particularly memorable. But this cartoon does shine brighter, not only because of its greatness as entertainment but because it was the debut of both stars, and the makers were not short of ideas. The usual facial expressions and high-quality - though slightly outlandish due to the early date - animation is combined with fresh and new gags, which were at the time not dated and only the cream of the crop of ideas were used. Highly recommended.

This is the very first Road Runner cartoon. Fresh and funny it was at the time, but after a while many of these toons began to resemble each other and it was impossible to tell them apart especially when they started recycling footage in the non Looney Tunes Rudy Larriva shorts of the 60s and 70s. It lessens the quality of the real Roadrunner cartoons of the time and it's a real shame considering how intelligent they were.

The formula (before it got tired) is the same as ever. Wile E. Coyote, is a starving desert dog, there doesn't seem to be much food around other than a cheeky Roadrunner so he uses everything at his disposal (and endless shoddy products from the Acme corporation) to catch the bird only for his plans to backfire.

Roadrunner is kind of met with a lot of criticism now with many moans of 'They are all the same'. While this is true now, the characters were only good as long as Chuck Jones and Co were in control. This being the first of many great Roadrunner shorts before it went downhill.

And I just love the sticking out tongue thing Roadrunner does.

Wile E. Coyote spots the Road Runner from high up. He chases after his dinner, but he is nowhere near fast enough. He sets out with various tricks. He uses a lid, a boomerang, a school crossing, a rocket, a giant rock, a painted tunnel, explosive, a flying costume, a refrigerator and skis, jet-propelled tennis shoes, and finally a short cut.

This is most notable for being the first Road Runner cartoon. It is a great start. These characters are off and running in a highly successful side franchise. In this one, the Road Runner road map gets drawn. A lot of these attempts would be reused in future shorts.