Correndo a Céu Aberto

It is really sad to see how the Road runner series had deteriorated by the mid sixties. The animation is poor, the gags seem to be recycled from earlier efforts and it all looks terrible. The same shots (and punchlines) are used over and over again and go on for far to long. What is the point in setting up the gag with the old car when it only leads to the old Road Runner behind the wheel cliché? Personally I never enjoyed seeing double R. driving any vehicle. It makes no sense and being the 'good guy' he really should not be driving over anybody at all.

There are so few jokes that they have to milk each drawing and stretch out each scene for as long as they possibly could to fill a mere six and a half minutes. The animation is about par with a Hanna/Barbera TV show. They made an attempt to compensate this with more elaborate sound effects than usual, which only helps to emphasize the flatness of the animation. The only vaguely original thing is a walking bomb that looks like a baby road runner and even this bit doesn't amount to anything.

2 out of 10

I knew these mid-late sixties Depatie-Freleng looney tunes were largely thought to be horrible, and that's definitely the case in some cartoons. But I'm trying to go back when I rewatch old looney tunes to give some of these late 60's cartoons a try, because I don't think there all horrible, (Take my review for Pancho's hideaway for example). But this one is pain and a bore to watch. The Gags are boring, and Take WAY too long. The Music is pretty bad too, and No offense to any Coyote-road-runner fans but these cartoons are just so limited in setting and jokes, which some people like because it puts the writers out of the box, but it just gets boring after a while with me. The Animation looks like it was started and completed in around 2 hours, and I didn't laugh a single time.

2/10.

I knew you could do better Freleng.

There's nothing worse to a fan of the Road Runner & Coyote shorts than hearing that dreadful opening carnival music. Because then you know that you're in for a Rudy Larriva stinkfest. As with the other Larriva Road Runner cartoons, this one is just awful. The animation is cheap-looking with dull colors and flat lifeless drawings. I especially hate how proportions and size do not matter in this thing. Just look at the size of Wile E. Coyote in relation to the Road Runner and the different objects he hides behind (there are sadly several). It's not remotely consistent. The stock music and loud sound effects will have you clawing at your ears until they are bloody stumps. The gags are unimaginative and not even slightly funny. Larriva seemed to like crafting overcomplicated gags that, on paper, sound weird enough to be interesting but the finished result is just tedious. Also he relies on utility poles in the middle of the desert way too much. In short, this cartoon sucks. Don't watch it.

'Highway Runnery' is a Road Runner cartoon that is not very funny. Directed by Rudy Larriva, who has a taste for bad Road Runner cartoons, this is all a little too simple. The Road Runner rides a car, and not even in the final sequence as we sometimes see.

There is one sequence that makes this cartoon enjoyable enough. The Coyote makes a fake egg with a robot Road Runner in it. Of course the robot is a bomb. The way the Road Runner sits on the egg gave me a good laugh. Another little gag that involves a sail was pretty nice as well.

Other gags are predictable, but not in the good way (as we sometimes see in Road Runner cartoons). The animation is not that good either. Simply said this is not good.

As far as the mostly lacklustre at best (and that's being generous) Rudy Larriva-directed Roadrunner vs. Wile E.Coyote go, 'Highway Runnery' is not as bad as 'Shot and Bothered' and 'Tired and Feathered'.

'Highway Runnery's' one noteworthy moment is the fake egg disguising a bomb gag. Far from original of course, but it is the only moment that raises a small smile and is the best-timed of the gags. Coyote, who has always been the funnier and more interesting character of the two, is still reasonably rootable, with some expressions that amuse and affect. Although they didn't add anything necessarily the more elaborate sound effects were a nice touch.

Sadly, every flaw present in the mid-to-late-60s-Roadrunner-vs.Coyote outings is present in 'Highway Runnery', especially when the series on the whole is enjoyable and the best of the duo's cartoons have been brilliant. It's awfully cheap-looking, with both characters scrappily drawn, the colours all flat and garish and the backgrounds very sparse and a complete lack of visual imagination. Apart from one gag, 'Highway Runnery' lacks zip pacing-wise and the comedy is very tired and too reminiscent of what has previously been seen with Roadrunner and Coyote, except with none of the punch.

Bill Lava's music continues to irritate and sound discordant, repetitive and stockly orchestrated. The chemistry between the two characters just isn't there, and Roadrunner as is true with all of their later cartoons is annoying.

In conclusion, not a complete dud but almost. 3/10 Bethany Cox