Rêveur invétéré

Semi-sequel to Chuck Jones's earlier "From A to Z-z-z-z", about young daydreamer Ralph Phillips. This time, he accidentally breaks a window, gets sent to his room and has a series of fantasies.

While Ralph Phillips only appeared in these two cartoons (plus an educational cartoon in which he enlists in the army), his wild imagination shows childhood at its most innocent. Who didn't, as a child, imagine himself/herself having all sorts of neat adventures? In my opinion, the fine troika of fictional daydreaming characters is Ralph Phillips, Walter Mitty and Calvin (of "Calvin and Hobbes"). I certainly never would have thought up "Martians who got straight A's in arithmetic". I recommend "Boyhood Daze".

Chuck Jones brings back his wonderful Ralphie Phillips character (voiced by Dick Beals) in this funny short. Ralphie previously in the classic From A to Z-Z-Z-Z, where he daydreamed in class about various heroic adventures. This time he breaks a window and is sent to his room, where his imagination once again takes over. A fun cartoon from one of the masters. Everything about this clicks. The writing is smart and funny, with a protagonist anyone who was ever a kid can relate to (sadly that doesn't cover everyone; some people were born old and miserable). The music accompanies the action perfectly. The voice work is flawless. The animation is crisp, colorful, and creative. Jones would use Ralphie again in the Adventures of Road Runner TV pilot. This is a beautiful classic, from both artistic and entertainment perspectives. Chuck Jones is my favorite of the Golden Age animation greats and cartoons like this are why.

I love the three Ralph Phillips cartoons that Looney Toons made. The first two (FROM A to Z-Z-Z-Z and BOYHOOD DAZE) are roughly the same format while the final film consists of Ralph and a friend watching Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner and making commentary about the film. The character is quite charming and likable and seeing this little boy's daydreams come to life is really a pleasure. In A to Z-Z-Z-Z, these dreams all occur when Ralph is supposed to be listening in class. In BOYHOOD DAZE, Ralph is sent to his room after breaking a window and imagines all kinds of crazy consequences--including a fight with cannibals and a flight in an experimental fighter plane pursued by Martians! In the end, however, the confrontation with Dad isn't so bad after all and we see that Ralph has learned his lesson....or has he?!

Highly imaginative and fun, these cartoons represent some of the best Looney Toons had to offer even if they are rather obscure films today. My only quibble, and it's very, very minor, is that the animation style is over-simplified and modern and isn't as highly detailed as you'd see in earlier Looney Tunes cartoons. But, this was the style of late 50s cartoons and this style was a lot cheaper to produce.

FYI--George Washington NEVER cut down a cherry tree--that's a silly myth. If you don't believe me, ask an American History teacher!

Perhaps it's just me and I wouldn't want to point fingers, but does anyone notice a remarkable resemblance between Ralphie Phillips and his daydreams in the old WB cartoons, and the Jean Shepherd character, Ralphie Parker, in the 1983 Bob Clark holiday pic, A Christmas Story? Seems to me that the daydream sequences in A Christmas Story may have been suggested or inspired by the cartoon... or was Chuck Jones influenced by Shepherd's writing? What came first?

I was glad to see that the old cartoons had not been lost to the mists of time: I'd almost started to believe that I had concocted these cartoons and amalgamated them with the daydream aspects of Christmas Story.

Here we have yet another rarely-seen and under-appreciated cartoon classic by Chuck Jones. Ralph Phillips' three fantasies after he gets sent to his room for breaking a window are exactly the the sort of thing that any imaginative nine-year-old would think of, and the script is chock full of screwy lines like "My insurance will pay for the the window and use whatever is left over to buy yourself a catcher's mitt" and "You are being pursued by Martians who all got "A"s in Arithmetic" -- just the sort of vengeful daymares that every child who is regularly laughed at by his classmates would dream. It was so good that Jones managed one and a half sequels. Keep an eye out for this one.