grade Movie Reviews

• Reviewed by MARIO GAUCI grade 4 / 10

  BAH HUMDUCK!: A LOONEY TUNES Christmas (Charles Visser, 2006) (V) **

  After the Walt Disney characters and The Muppets, it was the turn of the Looney Tunes stable to tackle the popular Yuletide tale revolving around the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge; coming so late in the game (i.e. way past the Warners Animation Studios' prime), it is no surprise that this emerges as the least effective rendition of all! The grouchy Daffy Duck is the natural choice for Scrooge: with the premise updated to modern times, many of the familiar Looney Tunes figures turn up – atypically – as submissive employees in Daffy's department store (that said, Bugs Bunny is his usual independent self, though he serves no particular function here except to further harass Daffy!). On the other hand, Porky stands in for Bob Cratchit, Sylvester is "Jacob Marley" and, as the Christmas Ghosts, we have Granny and Tweety(!), Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil. Even at a mere 46 minutes, the film is mostly a drag – since the comedy is generally forced, thus unfunny, and the quality of the animation extremely poor when compared to the dazzling imagination displayed by the form in its heyday.

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• Reviewed by wile_E2005 grade 6 / 10

  OK, but Sander Schwartz has got to go!

  I rented this movie today. I thought it was OK, but the main problem was the company that produced it. Warner Bros. Animation hasn't been the same since 2002, when Sander Schwartz took over and ruined everything. The company mostly focused on cartoons featuring the DC superheroes ("Justice League Unlimited," "Teen Titans," "The Batman"), crude Flash-style cartoons that try to bring in humor ("Mucha Lucha," "Xiaolin Showdown"), and some other action shows. They also tried taking over production on Scooby-Doo, and totally killed the magic of the show with changing the voices and sound effects and animation style ("What's New, Scooby-Doo?," "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue," "Aloha Scooby-Doo"), and also completely changed Tom and Jerry (with "Tom and Jerry Tales," which looks even worse than the Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones T&J cartoons!). Despite turning out all this mediocre product, the studio tried a couple of times to produce Looney Tunes cartoons in the old spirit, with poor-quality shorts like "Museum Scream," "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas," etc., and ultimately, "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." But when the latter flopped at box-office (hey, it was a bad idea, "Finding Nemo" was poisoning the other animated flicks of that year!), the future of Looney Tunes was at stake. Termite Terrace churned out "Baby Looney Tunes," "Duck Dodgers" and "Loonatics Unleashed," which are NOWHERE near the quality of the classics, even nowhere near the quality of the cheap late 1960s Warner-Seven Arts cartoons! This current addition to the Looney Tunes filmography, "Bah Humduck!," is the latest attempt by Warner Bros. Animation to do a Looney Tunes cartoon. The current staff at the animation department had no or barely enough experience with the classic (but near-obscure) Warner Bros. cartoon characters. Gossamer and Marvin the Martian and Hubie and Bertie and a few others are poorly drawn here, and the music is NO MATCH for Carl Stalling (or even Milt Franklyn.) Heck, even Bill Lava could do better music than that. If they wanted Carl Stalling-style, they could've hired Steven Bernstein, music composer for "Animaniacs" and "Pinky and the Brain," as well as the 1994 Animaniacs-esquire Hanna-Barbera special, "Arabian Nights." Also, Wile E. Coyote is always treated like that he is always silent or deaf or doesn't know how to talk, and that he can only use signs. I know Wile E. Coyote. He talked a couple of times. And you know what? I actually LIKED his voice! Mel Blanc gave him a great British-sounding voice that matched really well with him. But alas, Mel Blanc has gone, but there are many others out there. They could've hired Kevin Michael Richardson, whom voices Tech E. Coyote (who, unfortunately, sounds NOTHING like Wile E. Coyote!) Also, Billy West does a good Elmer, but a bad Bugs Bunny! I LOVE Billy West's Fry from "Futurama," as well as his Stimpy (but his Ren wasn't the best Ren voice though). Speedy Gonzales's voice is also really bad, too. He is designed in the same style as you see on most merchandising. The best Speedy Gonzales design out there was the 1955-1967 Speedy.But anyways, it shows that the Looney Tunes are still struggling to make it into today's culture. If they do, and the quality improves or Sander Schwartz leaves the studio, it could lead into a Looney Tunes renaissance!

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• Reviewed by rocknrollrebel grade 10 / 10

  A Looney Adaptation of the Dickens Classic

  When I first heard about this film, I knew I had to have it when it was released. The Looney Tunes were always my favorite cartoon characters and A Christmas Carol is among my favorite tales. Needless to say, I had high expectations. Did this film meet them? Definitely.From the beginning, this is a classic. The opening theme is simply beautiful, but the jazzy score is one of the many high points of the film. This film is full of fun, mayhem, adventure, and cheer. You'll love it.All of the characters fit into their roles perfectly. You all know the story, so why should I repeat it here? Among the best and funniest are Daffy as Scrooge (complete with the classic Daffy sarcasm) and Yosemite Sam as The Ghost Of Christmas Present.If you are expecting a pacifist cartoon, look elsewhere. The original cartoons are often targeted by specific groups for being violent, politically incorrect, blah, blah, blah. Don't expect that to change here. There is violence and political incorrectness (the use of Speedy Gonzales and the use of the word Christmas instead of holidays), and Porky still has his stutter. These cartoons have been hits since the early '30s. If you don't want to see the "violence" on shows like this, Popeye, and Tom and Jerry, turn it to Teletubbies.In conclusion, no, this is not as great as the Rankin-Bass classics or A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it is as good as the specials featuring The Flintstones, Garfield, and Alvin & the Chipmunks. Therefore, it is definitely worth adding to your collection.Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

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