Warner Bros. has released Tweety's High-Flying Adventure, a direct-to-video full-length animated feature from 2000, starring Looney Tunes favorites, Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat. I've written before about the Looney Tunes cartoons, of which I'm an unabashed fan (please click here to read my review of the Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection), but unfortunately, Tweety's High-Flying Adventure doesn't come close to the manic spirit or humor of those classic cartoons. It's a bit of drag, actually, and interest peters out well before the final fadeout.

In this spoof of Around the World in Eighty Days, Tweety becomes involved in a bet between Granny and Colonel Rimfire (of Cool Cat fame), when, at his London club, he announces that feline intelligence trumps all other animal ingenuity. Granny, taking this as a challenge to her Tweety Bird, challenges the Colonel that Tweety can fly around the world in 80 days, collecting feline pawprints in her passport as proof of her visits. The prize of the bet is that the municipal park where Granny enjoys going - which is soon to be closed due to back taxes - will be saved by the Colonel.

However, Tweety of course must contend with Sylvester, who resents the idea of other cats getting a shot at eating Tweety. He sets out to follow Tweety, while a mysterious stranger also keeps tabs, due to the loss of a royal passport that many suspect Tweety has in his possession. Meeting various Looney Tunes characters along the way - as well as a pretty tweety bird named Aoogah - will Tweety make it back to London in time to save the park?

I'm not sure Tweety is the kind of Looney Tunes character that can sustain an entire feature on his own, and Tweety's High-Flying Adventure at least, bore that out. I know Tweety is one of the most popular Looney Tunes now, and I always enjoyed his shorts with Sylvester, especially the earlier ones. There's a certain meanness to his character, a snotty "I told you so" enjoyment when Sylvester was ripped apart by the dogs that usually were found in-between Sylvester and Tweety's cage, that contrasted nicely with his cutie-pie image. But much of that edge has been removed from the character, especially when he became such a big marketing success with little girls, and as he stands now, I can take him or leave him.

He's certainly not very funny here in Tweety's High-Flying Adventure, a lame, tame take on Jules Verne's superior story. While I admired the look of Tweety's High-Flying Adventure (it has an almost DePatie-Freleng feel to the light, feathery backgrounds and the distinctive D.F.-looking human characters), the actual humor of the story is forced at best. Existing as little more than an excuse for viewers to spot the all-star line-up of L.T. characters, Tweety's High-Flying Adventure can't seem to do anything with them, once Bugs, Daffy, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn and others show up. Gags are ill-timed, and the limited animation doesn't help to sell the jokes. Songs are included, as well, but they make little-to-no impact, while the film bumps awkwardly from one contrived set-up to the next. For such a short film (70 minutes), it seems twice as long with the lugubrious pacing and the unconvincing execution.

The DVD:

The Video:
The full frame, 1.33:1 video image for Tweety's High-Flying Adventure is perfectly acceptable, with little or no artifacting, and a reasonably bright, colorful image.

The Audio:
That Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 English audio mix is more than enough mix for the relatively thin soundtrack. There's also a French Surround mix, as well. English subtitles are also available.

The Extras:
There are no extras for Tweety's High-Flying Adventure.

Final Thoughts:
Tweety's High-Flying Adventure sputters and smacks into the ground flatter than Looney Tunes pancake, due to a tepid approach to the gags, and a less-than-compelling lead character. The light, feathery production design is a departure from the usual Warner Bros. Looney Tunes look, but no kid is going to care about that. They just want to see Sylvester chase Tweety, with Tweety outsmarting him again and again. Unfortunately, the duo spend large amounts of time away from each other on the screen, to deleterious effect. Children are the best indicators of these kinds of films; my little kids love Tweety, and they were bored at the halfway mark. At one point, Colonel Rimfire exclaims, "What crapulous rubbish!" Right with you there, Colonel. Rent if you're a Looney Tunes completist, but all others can safely skip it in favor of some older classic Sylvester and Tweety tunes.