Le petit chaperon rural

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. It must have been daunting constructing a cartoon following up from one of his greatest cartoons 'Red Hot Riding Hood', but 'Little Rural Riding Hood', ingeniously parodying two well known stories ('Little Red Riding Hood' and 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse') in a way only Avery could, manages to be just as good if not quite as amazingly ahead of its time like 'Red Hot Riding Hood' was/is.

Can't fault the characters, both wolves are splendidly characterised with the country wolf being especially hilarious and both Reds are uniquely sexy and beautiful.

Nor Avery's direction. He does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected.

Once again there is nothing sadistic or repetitious, instead it's imaginative, wonderfully wild, deliciously deranged, violent but imaginatively so, shockingly racy, red hot sexy and hilarious throughout from start to finish. The sight gags throughout are an absolute joy and are immaculate in timing.

It is no surprise either that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the action.

'Little Rural Riding Hood' sees both Daws Butler and particularly Pinto Colvig on top form.

Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This is a sort of city mouse/country mouse kind of thing. The country wolf is under the spell of a buck toothed female (of course, country people have bad teeth). He actually pursues her and she him and the results are unsatisfactory. As he practically gets himself killed, a note comes from the city wolf. Attached is a picture of Red Riding Hood, a lounge singer. She is shapely and desirable. The country wolf takes off for the city. Once there, he becomes a sex maniac. The city wolf can barely control him. Every Tex Avery wolf, eye popping routine is used. Slobbering, thumping, howling, on and on. He becomes an utter embarrassment to his city counterpart. Every method that is possible is used to restrain the lupine hick. It's pretty funny with a nice little conclusion.

In this one, Tex Avery pkes continued fun at his old friends, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, but adds a slight twist-he parodies the tale of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse and of course, in true Avery fashion, stands everything on its ear. Tex also proves an old adage-beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All the old Tex Avery signatures are here-eye bulges, double-takes and sight gags galore. Bring the spouse, the kiddies, old Uncle Erasmus, Grampa and the hermit under the floor boards. Great fun will be had by all! Recommended.

Little Red Riding Hood is a gawky buck-toothed country girl going to visit her grandma. Only the Country Wolf is pretending to be grandma. It's not going great for the wolf but when he finally catches Red Riding Hood, he gets a telegram from his cousin, the City Wolf. The City Wolf is dashing and sophisticated who brings Country Wolf to the nightclub to see showgirl singer Ms. Red Riding Hood.

It's a Tex Avery MGM cartoon. I don't think that I've seen this one except the final scene seems a little familiar. This is great. It's a fun, inventive, surprising take on Red Riding Hood. It's packed. There's no filler. It's great from start to finish.

Little Rural Riding Hood has Country Wolf go to the city to meet City Red. His cousin City Wolf, who seems to be a Southern Dandy-type (New Orleans) character shows him how to behave in what is basically a Burlesque club. This is the second appearance of Red after the better known 'Red Hot Riding Hood', the character most likely modelled on pint-size screen siren Mae West as well as Betty Boop.

Features typical Tex Avery animation which is playing with perspective and planes, as well as wacky "body animation" similar to Looney Tunes, but taken up a gear. The wolf character was hugely influential and was spoofed in The Mask when Jim Carrey first sees Cameron Diaz in a club. This isn't a masterpiece, but it is good fun.

The Blu Ray, Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 2 features a nice print with some scratches, but superb colour, a huge step up from those VHS tapes that did the rounds in the 90s. Sound is crisp and in 2.0 stereo with no pops or nuisance noise. It's also much more affordable than the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection.