Papa-Léguas

Beep, Beep (1952)

*** (out of 4)

Second film in the Road Runner/Coyote series is a pretty good one as the dumb but always trying Coyote comes up with new tricks as he tries to catch his meal. The highlight of these new tricks is a long running sequence where the two are inside a dark mine and we can only see them from the lights on their helmets. I'm not a die-hard fan of the series but I am watching them again in the order that they appear on Warner's second disc in their second volume of Looney Tunes shorts. Seeing them in order might have me changing my mind but this one here is a pretty good short from start to finish as the action is always at a feverish pace and we get many good gags including the before mentioned mine sequence but there's also another good one dealing with water.

This second pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner is a great as the first. Predictable maybe, but I don't care and still laugh so much whenever I see it. The Wile E./Road runner shorts always had the most special place in my heart. So knowing that the second disc of the Golden Collection would not only feature 11 of this, BUT they would be in chronological order (2 through 12, the first episode was on Volume 1), made me get misty eyed. I LOVE this stuff. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It also features an optional commentary by Micheal Barrier.

My Grade: A+

This is more of the same thing that made this cartoon popular.....but who's complaining? It's always fun to see the poor coyote try various contraptions to get the Road Runner, and then get pulverized by every one of those inventions.

The underground cave chase was different from the normal fare and was clever. It gave us an aerial view of the chase in a maze-like structure. I didn't say it was hilarious; just different from the normal above-ground antics.

This one, along with some other Road Runner shorts, are featured on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and the transfers of them are spectacular. The colors are magnificent.

OK, so in any Wile E. Coyote-Road Runner cartoons, we know that WEC is going to set up all sorts of traps for RR, but always maim himself in various ways. That certainly happens in "Beep, Beep". Predictable? I guess that it is, but when you think about it, these cartoons show how the more you try to harm someone else, the more you get harmed; sort of like how Daffy Duck always tries to undermine Bugs Bunny's integrity but Bugs sees around it.

Overall, this is another classic from the Termite Terrace crowd. Sometimes, I think that if we really had wanted to ease Cold War tensions, we could have just let the Soviet Union see Looney Tunes cartoons; I'm sure that they would have loved them. Another great one.

PS: I learned on "Jeopardy!" that Wile E. Coyote's middle name is Ethelbert.

While I agree there are a few predictable gags, there are also some very well-executed ones that are ambitious and are a good length. The animation is very good, making it I feel one of the better-looking Roadrunner vs. Coyote cartoons, and the music is not repetitive or annoying thank goodness. The Roadrunner is likable enough, but I have often preferred Coyote, because he is craftier and we actually sympathise with him to some extent. Beep, Beep also goes along at a fast pace, and doesn't feel laborious or rushed in any way. In fact, apart from a few predictabilities, it is near-perfect, and I liked the underground scene as well. 9/10 Bethany Cox