O Filme Looney, Looney, Looney do Pernalonga

In a three-act presentation, Bugs Bunny presents some old stories in a modern film. Act I sees Yosemite Sam deep in Hell with Satan. His only way out is to replace himself with another victim - and he picks Bugs bunny. Satan lets him out of Hell for several attempts to capture Bugs. In act II we see crime waves at a new high and Elegant Mess (Bugs) trying to stop the activities of mobster Rocky. In act III, the Oswald Awards (Warner Brothers gave up on trying to win an Oscar and thus made these instead) are presented to the actors who have made the most difference in the world of animation - an award that Daffy would give his beak to get.

I love the Warner Brother cartoons a great deal and will use any excuse I can get to watch the cartoons if I'm around - whether it be a hangover cure or entertaining kids when babysitting, I'll generally give them a try and find them funny. With this being a `proper' movie I felt I needed no such excuse and decided to sit and just watch it. Very quickly I realised that this cartoon was a barely concealed attempt to just show about 8 or 9 cartoons that had been edited together to roughly fit within each act. Of these cartoons, 4 or 5 are worth seeing, 1 or 2 are pretty poor and 2 are really great so, for my money, the film was just about worth watching. I have seen most of these cartoons before and my reviews are up for them on their specifics pages so I won't review them aside from my last comment, however what spoils them is the modern touches.

Most of the linking stuff is poor at best and doesn't really work. The animation is of a noticeably lower quality and it is forced to fit the cartoons they had available. The `stories' are pretty poor and it would have been much better just to do this as a sort of flashback film where the cartoons are just honestly presented rather than twisted. The cartoons are trimmed to fit the story but, worse than this, there are points where they have been undated to get rid of violence. The worst is the bit where Bugs throws a can up to shot it and ends up shooting Sam in the face - here they remove that and have him shot the can full of corks. Rubbish.

Overall this is just about worth seeing because the majority of the cartoons are enjoyable. However the presentation spoils some of them and is really stupid and disrespectful to the material. If this is your only way to see these cartoons then it is worth it but the question would be why not just go out and rent any of the dvd/video compilations that already exist and enjoy them as they were rather than as part of this last compilation.

Looking back at all of these Looney Tunes movies that were just compilations, I am starting to wonder if a full animated movie with all new material would have worked. Unfortunately, we never got to see that. If it was anything like the Tom and Jerry movie, it wouldn't have worked. This film features roughly 14 minutes of new material. Someone should make a compilation showing all the new stuff. It's divided into three parts, the best easily being the third.

It features Bugs Bunny hosting an awards show. They give us the Oscar winning "Knighty Knight Bugs" right from the get go as it was the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win one. It is odd how that isn't one of the more remembered "Looney Tunes" cartoons. Well, I personally don't think it's one of the best. Again, Leon Schelsinger was more prolific than Friz Freleng. Well, he was dead at this point. ***

I've never seen a Looney Tunes movie better edited than this one. The new footage in this film is worthless, but the first two acts are well enough edited to win an award for best editing. I don't really like the new footage in Act I, but it doesn't take away the excitement of the good editing.

***1/2 out of 4 stars.

I personally wouldn't say that "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie" was the best Looney Tunes compilation ever, but it's still pretty entertaining. It starts with "Knighty Knight Bugs" (in which Bugs tries to steal the Singing Sword from black night Yosemite Sam), and then Bugs explains that the cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, who directed this movie. In fact, Friz got an Oscar, but Bugs only got a carrot.

Then, we go the compilations: Yosemite Sam tries to kill Bugs but keeps getting sent to Hell (Satan is only too happy about this); Bugs becomes a cop and busts gangsters Rocky and Mugsy; and then, an Oscars-style awards ceremony at which the characters arrive in the most ostentatious limos imaginable. Nominees include the wolf and three little pigs ("Three Little Bops"), Sylvester and Tweety ("Birds Anonymous"), and others. But sure enough, Daffy believes that he and only he can win...or can he? I guess that if I have a problem with what they portray here, it's that the whole thing seems sort of like self-congratulation. Then again, the Looney Tunes cartoons often made fun of Hollywood - just look at "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" - so they might be poking fun at the pomp and opulence inherit in the numerous award ceremonies every year.

Overall, I pretty much liked "TLLLBBM". As far as I'm concerned, as long as they still had Mel Blanc providing the characters' voices, it was worth seeing. Still, I can't help but wonder why they stressed Friz Freleng's cartoons; they should have had at least something about Chuck Jones's works.

All in all, pretty worthy.

The late and great Friz Freling was without a doubt one of Warner Brothers' best animation directors in the studio's history. With a total of 5 Oscars and 2 Emmys under his belt (according to the film) while working for the Warners, he has created some of the most memorable animated shorts in film history, such as the Oscar-winning short "Knighty Knight Bugs" and the incredibly jazzy "Three Little Bops". Since the success of Chuck Jones' "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" in 1978, it would only be fair if director Friz Freling had his own showcase film featuring some of his best work with the studio, thus the creation of "The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie" in 1981.

As I mentioned before, this film is a showcase of Friz Freling's best work while working for Warner Brothers Pictures. The difference however, between this and Jones' film is that story arcs are inserted in between the different shorts specifically chosen for this feature film. Because of this, the movie is split into three separate acts: "Satan's Waiting'", which focuses on Yosemite Sam's numerous failed attempts at catching/destroying Bugs, "The Unmentionables", which focuses primarily on shorts featuring the gangster Rocky, and finally "The Oswald Awards", which focuses on a fictional award ceremony specifically made for cartoon characters. In-between the shorts are animated story arcs made for the movie that are also directed by Freling, which is always welcome. However, a person who has viewed many a Looney Tunes short will notice that some of the shorts have been edited either for time constraints or to blend in with the current scenario, which I can understand. Thankfully, all of these shorts in their complete form can be found on numerous Looney Tunes compilation DVDs and Blu-Rays.

The main question is this, however, does this work in the movie's favor? The answer is a definite yes, because this is the studio's own special way of saying "thanks" to one of their own for their dedication and hard work that got them to where they're at today as a motion picture studio that specializes in entertaining audiences of all ages, and since Looney Tunes shorts are viewed by both children and adults all over the globe, this would work extremely well as a family feature. As a fan of animation myself, I really dug this flick. Anyone who is a dedicated fan of the Looney Tunes franchise will most likely enjoy this flick for what it is, and it is also a great addition for family movie nights.