Hot-Rod and Reel!

Around this time the desert backgrounds in the Road Runner cartoons - always splashes of sun-baked colour, always attractive, always inventive - started to look alike. (Not WORSE - if anything, better - but alike.) The gags, though, started to look LESS alike. This cartoon has gravity and dynamite, same as always, but there's also unwieldy technological sophistication (the unicycle; or the rifle-in-a-camera, which backfires - literally - in a particularly clever way), jokes where the only point is that they defeat our expectations, and also the kind of absurdist joke, misplaced in the Road Runner universe, but which Jones from time to time was unable to resist (in this case, the Coyote goes to a lot of effort to create the ILLUSION of a railroad crossing, and ... well, you know what happens). Perhaps it was a mistake to include one of every kind of joke in a single cartoon.

Or perhaps not. One doesn't so much watch individual Road Runner cartoons as immerse oneself in the mythology.

The Coyote (Famishius-Famishius) chases the Road Runner (Super-Sonicus-Tastius) and of course he does not succeed in catching him. This time the Coyote uses some roller skates, a snapshot camera with a gun, an Acme unicycle, some bombs and a fake rail road.

Because the cartoon is directed by Chuck Jones you know that it will be entertaining. I was not disappointed. 'Hot-Rod and Reel!' is a nice one with some great gags. The one with the rail road was perfect and the one with the bombs had a perfect timing. Instead of simply letting the bombs explode, Jones has the patience to wait a little longer than you might expect. With good animations and music that fits that animation this is another fine cartoon from the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote series.

The everlasting chase between Wily E. Coyote and Roadrunner continues with Coyote desperately trying to catch his prey. Armed with his Acme catalogue, Coyote tries every trick he knows to catch Roadrunner - including false train tracks, a fake camera, skates, an unicycle and others.

Having just watched the horrid film `The Wild Chase', I really needed to remind myself that the Coyote and Roadrunner formula was actually quite good at a time. Luckily this film was on not long afterwards and marked itself out as being an enjoyable cartoon that basically does all the things that a good Roadrunner cartoon does. The plot is the usual quest to catch Roadrunner, but this is only an excuse for (hopefully) witty and imaginative attempts by Coyote to do so. In this case that is so, with Coyote using many devices to try and catch him.

It's not rocket science and it won't win over those viewers who can only see banality in the cartoons but it is enjoyable for those who like the series. Roadrunner has a bit of attitude here that helps - he isn't just a streak of blue here. Coyote is as determined and hapless as ever and is funny for it.

Overall, this film may just stick to the formula but it is a formula that works so why not?! The only downside of the film is that the ending is abrupt and not very funny, leading me to the conclusion that they simply didn't know how best to finish it - so they just kind of, well, stopped!

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons are on the most part very enjoyable. They did take a nose-dive in quality in the mid-late-60s in both humour and production values (in all fairness that's true of a good deal of the 60s Looney Tunes cartoons), but the best of them are brilliant. Hot-Rod and Reel is not one of the best of them, but it's still very good.

Hot-Rod and Reel has very little to criticise it for. The recycled rail-track gag is very predictable for anybody who has seen Beep Beep (it's amusing, but it was funnier previously) and it does end a little too abruptly, very funny but with a little too much of a rushed that's it feel when rounded off. However, in terms of criticisms, that is it. Some may criticise it for being formulaic and that some of the material is reminiscent of material seen before in previous cartoons of theirs, but the pacing is so fluid and tight, the dynamic between Roadrunner and Wile is entertaining and Wile as ever is so strong a character and the material is so well-timed, well-animated and so much fun that it doesn't matter, it certainly doesn't feel anywhere near as repetitive as their later cartoons.

Animation-wise, Hot-Reed and Reel is suitably colourful and polished. It's vibrant, crisply drawn with both Roadrunner and Wile well animated in design and movement and while the backgrounds are simple they have enough detail to prevent them from looking too sparse. Milt Franklyn's music score doesn't disappoint either, blessedly much closer to the lush, richly orchestrated and energetically characterful orchestration of Carl Stalling (if not quite as clever or sympathetic, though those traits are still evident) to the canned, repetitive and tonally jarring music of Bill Lava in the later outings.

The gags are all very funny and well-timed, all of them make you laugh out loud (the bombs gag was hilarious) and there is nothing whatsoever tired about them even when it's not exactly original material. The story is always interesting and beautifully paced, and there as ever is great chemistry between Roadrunner and Wile. Roadrunner is not generally that interesting a character, but he is cute and funny here and it was refreshing to see him have a more cunning side to usual. Wile however is the funnier and more interestingly written of the two (that's always been the case, even in the best of their outings, I'd go as far to say that he's one of the best of the Looney Tunes canon), he's cunning, hilarious and easy to root for and his facial expressions- whether cunning, shocked or frustrated etc.- are priceless and even funnier than the gags in some cases.

Overall, a very good Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Another excellent Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote short from the great Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese. Wile E.'s attempts to nab the Road Runner this time include using roller skates, a trampoline, shooting a stick of dynamite out of a crossbow, a decoy railroad crossing, and an ACME jet propelled unicycle. All of the gags are funny and well-timed in this one. Wonderful animation with nicely-drawn characters, backgrounds, and action. Love the bright colors. Energetic music from Milt Franklyn. As with most Road Runner & Coyote shorts, it's a simple but fun cartoon that everybody with a funny bone should enjoy. They don't make 'em like this anymore.