Titi et le Tour du monde en 80 chats

I have to admit, while this movie has bland animation and plotholes, I found this movie somewhat enjoyable. It is a breath of fresh air for Tweety to have his own movie when usually it's Bugs or Daffy that has their own movie. The songs were pretty good, the relationship between Tweety and Awoogah was surprisingly heartwarming, and Sylvester's determination to catch Tweety and the difficulties that came were amusing. The biggest flaw of this movie is that Tweety's adventures felt too rushed from going to Paris, Rome, Egypt, Tibet and to Australia all in less than 80 days and somehow getting the paw prints from all those cats which doesn't seem feasible. It also baffles me how Sylvester could be in all those places and knew where Tweety was going at all times. It also felt like the characters didn't get any development or enough screentime. One character comes and the other goes, like with Taz and Sam. Overall, this is a forgotten Looney Tunes movie that is enjoyable for certain audiences.

It's obvious from the get go that the latest direct to video offering that some serious troubles plauged this project. Produced by the same team that made the "Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries" TV series, we know these guys can do quality work. Sadly, it is not on display here. The video starts off with a contrived plot, when Col. Rimfire (long time nemesis to Cool Cat who was a mid 1960s Looney Tunes character and a favorite cameo in SaTM) challenged Granny (inexplicably in London) that Tweety can out smart 80 cats and fly around the world in 80 days. We also get a subplot that Col. Rimfire fortunes when Granny wins the bet will go to saving an adjecent park. Why the park needs saving is never explained, but doesn't really matter.

This sets off the main body of the video, where Tweety travels from place to place, outsmarting the local cat population and Sylvester to boot. Somehow there is an additional subplot of a London thug wanting to steal Tweety's royal passport. This again is never really developed and seems tacked on. Mostly we have Tweety traveling from place to place and encountering a range of Looney Tunes characters (Bugs and Daffy in the Swiss Alps, Pepe Le Pew in Paris, Pete Puma in Africa, Rocky and Mugsy in Rio de Jenerio and so on). It should also be noted that Lola Bunny makes her first fully animated appearance (as opposed to Space Jam) as a news anchor.

But it is Tweety's travels that the real weakness of the piece shows up. The trip first of all makes no logical order. Tweety is suppose to go from London and back in 80 days. Yet, he goes from London to Switzerland and then back to Paris, then "Africa" to Egypt to Tibet to South America (!) then back to Yokohama then to Australia then to San Francisco to Las Vegas to Pittsburgh to Chicago to New York then finally back to London. This haphazard plotting is made worse by a number of animation mistakes that made it into the final print. Some were covered by ADR. The most noticable example was when Sylvester is chasing Hubie and Bertie (two mice) on a ship. Sylvester gets hit in the face with a frying pan, but after the cut back the frying pan is gone. In the soundtrack you hear Hubie noting, "Don't ask me what happened to the frying pan." The end result is an entirely rushed and under budget product.

Not that the source material was that great to start off with. Tweety, one of my least favorite LT characters, is even more unappealing in this piece, given a lot of very lame lines. The new characters, Aooogah, a female canary that Tweety saves in Tibet, is really cipher; nothing more than someone for Tweety to save. Thankfully, this piece has a minimum of songs, but even the normally reliable Randy Rogel can't do anything interesting here. The same can be said of the voice acting. Joe Alasky (the voice of Tweety, Sylvester and Daffy Duck) is fine in his core roles, but he is far overused, doing characters he's not used to doing and it shows.

Overall, this is a piece that might've been interesting, but instead went horribly wrong.

I will start off saying I really wanted to like this film. It sounded really promising, with a decent voice cast and Tweety, who while I prefer other toons I actually like. It was just the matter of a good story and script- sadly while Tweety's High Flying Adventure had its good moments there were some departments where it was sorely lacking.

ANIMATION: I am not going to lie and say it is perfect, because it is not. What I will say is that I have seen a lot worse, but I have also seen better. It lacks the sophisticated and beautiful backgrounds of those wonderful Looney Tunes cartoons made during the 40s-60s, but some of the backgrounds here did have a sense of colour and vibrancy particularly the London watercolours. Tweety's animation is okay, as is Sylvester's, though Granny especially looks deflated.

MUSIC: The best way to describe the music here is pleasant but forgettable. By all means children will lap it up, but adults and fans of the original cartoons are likely not to be as impressed. The lyrics are cute though and the melodies singable, but forgettable after a few days. "The Best Thing You Can Win Is A Friend" is surprisingly touching though.

STORY: I think this was the biggest failing here. Now I liked the idea, but the story structure was too episodic. There are parts where either little happens or there is a lot happening. Pacing will come under this as well, because there are parts that drag quite badly, but some of Tweety's adventures are rushed and sometimes underdeveloped and unexplained.

LENGTH: The film is too short, because of that we don't empathise with the characters that much.

SCRIPT: Kids like with the music will appreciate it, but being a teenage fan of the original cartoons, I missed the razor-sharp dialogue and the witty exchanges. There are one or two gags that are mildly interesting but somehow it didn't feel the same.

CHARACTERS: I love the Looney Tunes characters in general, but without the script and story being as good as it could've been, they felt somewhat stranded. I like Tweety a lot, I think he is cute, but as a lead even I have to admit he is pretty bland. Bugs and Daffy are much stronger lead characters, and some of my favourite Looney Tunes cartoons(ie. What's Opera Doc and Duck Amuck) have them in. It really is fun seeing these zany characters here, but that's the problem, they aren't zany enough, and there are some scenes where there are two characters put together and it doesn't work. Taz works better with Bugs, who can manipulate him easily, than with Sylvester, who works better as the toon who gave the laughs. Same with him and Yosemite Sam together. Plus I don't think the contemporary references worked well either, it felt quite jarring to be honest with you. Awooga, Tweety's girlfriend, is very cute and beautiful on the other hand.

VOICES: Pretty decent. June Foray is delightful as Granny, then again Foray is a brilliant voice actress who can act anything and do it well. Jeff Bennett does well, as does Jim Cummings, however Joe Alaskey was a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, Alaskey is a great voice actor, but he was over-used. If the producers had given him less to do, he wouldn't have felt so overwhelmed. And I have to confess, sorry, I miss Mel Blanc's fiery delivery that made the original cartoons so enjoyable.

OVERALL: Cute for kids, and pleasant to watch, but too rushed, episodic and bland to be any more than that. 4/10 Bethany Cox

A very entertaining story that teaches the beauty of true friendship and kindness (between Tweety and Aooogah). I love that they added another canary (Aooogah). We need more Tweety movies!

I love this movie also the parts where Awoogah becomes an alarm clock. In the trailer, when the farm animals are cheering, I could only hear Miss Prissy saying "Go, Tweety!" and it sounded like Granny and Clarabelle Cow from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2016). I believe June Foray or April Winchell voiced Miss Prissy in this movie because June Foray voiced Lucifer, Karen from Frosty the Snowman (1969), Cindy Lou Who, and Granny from 1955-2014 and April Winchell voiced Clarabelle Cow in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Terk in The Legend of Tarzan. I believe April Winchell played Miss Prissy or maybe...June Foray.