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Looney Tunes: Reality Check
The Program
Man oh man oh Manischewitz, I have to give Warner Brothers a lot of credit.
For years -- years, I tell you -- DVD enthusiasts have been clamoring for the release of the golden age, universally beloved, and generally well-regarded "classics" of Warner Brothers animated shorts. To rattle off the names of these adored characters would be redundant to the point of proclaiming that Liberace, on retrospect, was an odd bird of an extrovert... but that won't stop this intrepid review from doing so anyhow. Witness the Cosmic Quintessence of Cartoon Caesars: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Pepe le Pew, Marvin the Martian... Sweet Gobs of Gumption! Just rattling off that list felt far more spiritually fulfilling than my last fourteen attempts at organized religion. Whew... I need a moment...
(*Uber-Geek Moment Passes*)
Ah now, that's better. Where were we?
Oh yes.
Looney Tunes.
Talk about pan-generational! Our beloved characters have been around decades upon decades, entertaining our grandparents and parents by providing the comedic fodder as short films, proudly played at movie theaters alongside newsreels and other entertainment before the main feature film began. Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers marveled at these shorts when they were repackaged into half-hour, hour, and at one point hour-and-a-half weekday afternoon and Saturday mornings. CBS enraptured wide-eyed young (and old) viewers for ninety minutes for twenty-six classic installments of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the cream of the crop when it came to experiencing Looney Tooniness on television. I mean, I dare you to find a single person between the ages of, say, 28 and 50, who hasn't committed the following to memory:
Overture, curtain, lights!
This is it. The night of nights.
No more rehearsing or nursing a part.
We know every part by heart!
Overture, curtain, lights!
This is it. We'll hit the heights!
And oh, what heights we'll hit!
On with the show, this is it!
Man! Such a rush of memories! Wow, that brought me back. Like me, did anyone get up and start marching in a chorus line while singing that memorable ditty aloud? Anyone? No? Oh.
How embarrassing.
So yes, as I stated at the top of this review, I have to give credit to Warner Brothers for finally making the classic Looney Toon shorts available and affordable to the public. There's such a clamor, a sea of pleas and cries from the fans that they have finally relinquished and presented their classic Looney Toon material on DVD. There's nothing like a classic Looney Toon short!
And believe you me, on the Looney Toons: Reality Check DVD, there is nothing even remotely like a classic Loony Toon short.
The bizarare shorts on this DVD are a collection of "webtoons" produced for the Warner Brother Animation web site. They feature jerky, ugly "Flash"-style art that is entirely so stiff that it can barely be referred to as animation. The actual entertainment value of these cartoons is extremely mediocre. Of the entire lot, I can think of only a handful which were even remotely memorable, and that was more in line with the particular cartoon's conception rather than its execution. You see, the twenty-one Reality Check cartoons are spoofs of various "reality" programs currently populating (overpopulating, some might say) the television airwaves: Fear Factor, Survivor, Sportscenter, The Iron Chef, Divorce Court, Junkyard Wars, etc. Most of the characters seemed way too out of character for my liking, and there was an overall sadistic tone going on during way too many of these. For the life of me, I can't imagine Porky Pig ever grinning sadistically while a bear is mauling Sylvester. The classic LT cartoons made dropping an anvil on someone's face funny; the Reality Check cartoons break out the "dropped-anvil gag" roughly every 17.4 seconds to make sure you're paying attention.
These shorts are crass, mean-spirited, and ugly. These characters are far from the recognizable icons viewers have come to know and love. The idea of satirizing reality TV was pretty solid; the execution was extremely disappointing, guilty of the most cardinal of sins: making the Looney Toons grossly, terminally, hideously unfunny.
The DVD
Video:
The presentation of these cartoons is probably the best aspect of this DVD. The transfer is presented in its original full-frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio. For the most part, the video presentation is phenomenally good. The colors on this disc simply pop off the screen, with an astonishing vibrancy and lushness. Image detail is sharp, but, like many of the second-tier animation DVDs I have experienced from Warner Brothers, sharpness levels are extremely overbearing, resulting in a picture that rings with shimmering, jagged edges, and moiré effects. The transfer is blissfully clean, with no noticeable noise, debris, or other artifacts. The video looks excellent for the most part, but incorrect sharpness levels keep it short of greatness.
Audio:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, but the soundtrack is mostly delivered in a monaural manner. While the soundtrack does open up on occasion, and there is slight but noticeable LFE activity, your center channel will get the strongest workout. Occasional and discernable separation in the front gives the soundfield slightly greater depth, and dialog levels display acceptable levels of brightness and clarity.
Extras:
Toon Marooned Interviews features two "interview" segments with both Porky Pig and Taz. They run for about two minutes combined, which is a good thing as the bits are as terminally unfunny as the rest of disc.
Toon Marooned Outtakes features "extra footage" from the Toon Marooned cartoons, featuring the "Albacore Tribe", "Secret Alliance", "Lightning Strikes", "Quick Clips", and "Skip's Chili Dogs." The outtakes run for slightly over three minutes. They are about as memorable as the Interviews.
For the hardcore gamers is A Sneak Peek at the Looney Tunes: Back in Action Video Game, which is a two-minute preview of the upcoming video game based on the upcoming Warner Brothers film. The game looks like more fun than anything that was on this DVD!
All-New Toon Spots play like commercials to many of the spoof cartoons on this disc. Running over a minute, these spots include "Judge Granny" and "Toon Marooned." Since they feature clips from the main feature, these spots strike me as superfluous and unnecessary on an already-anemic DVD.
Family Favorites are trailers for other Warner Animation product, including Tom and Jerry Favorite, Mucha Lucha, and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico. Finally, Credits lists the DVD's production credits.
Final Thoughts
Listen to me very carefully: if you are a Looney Toon fan at all, use your hard-earned and demanding dollars to purchase the fantastic Looney Toons: The Premiere Collection or Looney Toons: The Golden Collection DVD sets. You'll be blessed with some of the finest cartoon product ever animated and bestowed upon an adoring public. The cartoons on Looney Toons: Reality Check will make any self-respecting Looney Toon fan seethe with the kind of rage than can melt a diamond at 30 paces. Even at the affordable cost Warners is selling this disc, Looney Toons: Reality Check is not even worth a rental. My recommendation is to avoid entirely, unless you are a hardcore enthusiast who must have all the Looney Toon product they can acquire.
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