Like the first volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Volume Two isn't a chronological dream come true, nor does it include every Looney Tunes short lifelong fans may be hoping to reacquaint themselves with. But the words "Volume Two" only reinforce the promise made with the first Platinum Collection release: never fear, there are more to come. The fact that this latest 3-disc, 50-short set features "The Complete Nasty Canasta," "The Bugs Bunny vs. Cecil Trilogy," Leon Schlesinger's "Early Wabbit" shorts, "The Complete Beaky Buzzard," the Chuck Jones "Wabbit Season Trilogy," and "The Complete A. Flea" continues to bode well for future releases and more fill-in-the-completist's-gap character treatments. (I remain enthusiastic for whatever complete character collections waiting for us in Volume Three and beyond.) As sophomore releases go, the second volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection functions, yet again, as a greatest hits reel and a showcase of lesser known animated shorts; as a satisfying meal and a tasty treat that leaves you hungry for more; as a strong standalone collection and the second of many exciting Looney Tunes releases. Perfection would be a chronologically arranged, 28-disc opera omnia, sure. But we'll get there, one digestible volume at a time.
"Some of the cartoons you are about to see are a product of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros.' view of today's society, some of these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."
Cynicism dictates that a studio is purely a profit driven machine. That most every release is designed to accommodate a pre-determined budget and little more. That quality is, first and foremost, anchored to cost. Flawed reasoning all around. Budgets are a crucial force in preservation, remastering and releasing, yes. But the men and women who set those budgets, to say nothing of the talented individuals who work within those parameters to deliver a first-rate product, are driven by a deep affection, a reverence even, for the films, series and shorts being restored, remastered or released. Look no further than a release like Volume Two. While every decision -- from short selection, to presentation, to special features -- can be picked apart and criticized, element by element, it's clear that tremendous love and care went into every aspect of the 3-disc set. That doesn't translate to perfection, of course. Few releases are flawless. Lossless audio would have been appreciated here, across-the-board high definition extras would have been ideal, more shorts... well, that's stretching things a bit. But the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection is something special regardless, and it's clear on every disc, in every short and on every feature.
Part of the joy of digging into Volume Two -- and hopefully every future volume the studio issues -- is the sheer surprise of what lays around the next corner, on the next disc, in the next menu. It could be a favorite short; for me "Show Biz Bugs," "Deduce, You Say," "Home Tweet Home," "The High and the Flighty," the "Hunting Trilogy" and "Tortoise Wins By a Hare." Or a beloved character, a forgotten guest of honor, or a story that brings childhood memories flooding back. And it isn't just the showcase shorts either. It could be a documentary that enriches the experience. A commentary that casts an old classic in a new light. Or the rare bonuses and vintage materials scattered across all three discs. Working my way through Volume Two wasn't a chore in the slightest. It was a blast, often a blast from the past, sometimes something more. Not every short holds up, and not every short is essential. Some are simply intregal milestones in the evolution of the Looney Tunes catalog. But few opportunities are missed and even fewer mistakes are made. I, for one, can't wait to see what Volume Three has in store.
The fifty shorts featured on the second volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection are as follows:
Variety, variety, variety. Volume Two offers more than the standard Looney Tunes fare, and isn't a casual viewer's collection comprised solely of the best and brightest animated shorts remastered from the most pristine film elements. A number of source issues afflict the second volume's fifty shorts -- nicks, scratches, lines, flickering and other minor blemishes -- and grain is rather sporadic, particularly when comparing one short to the next. (Which, frankly, is a pointless exercise, given the vast differences in their production, age, and the condition of their source materials.) And yet it's hard to imagine any of it looking any better than it does here. Granted, a fuller frame-by-frame restoration could have eliminated even more of these imperfections, but those that remain are easily overlooked and hardly amount to a significant distraction. Otherwise, nothing holds Volume Two back. Colors have been rejuvenated, the animators' original line art is clean and refined, contrast is dialed in nicely (and normalized with care), black levels are rich and inky, and most every background brush stroke texture and detail in the original cels appears to be intact. Like Volume One, Warner's latest Looney Tunes presentation is impressive, from the oldest black and white Porky Pig short to the classics that look as if they rolled out of the animation studios yesterday.
The only disappointment to be had in Warner's 3-disc Volume Two release is each short's 192kbps Dolby Digital Mono track. Though more than adequate -- particularly when backed by the work that's gone into cleaning up the shorts' original audio elements without sacrificing the clarity of the voices, effects and music -- the lossy audio begs the question: would a lossless mix sound better? It would certainly be more ideal, and ensure a higher quality and purer presentation. Still, we're dealing with decades-old animated shorts. Lossy or no, the soundscape is thin on the whole and no amount of restorative work could (or should really) make them sound as if they were anything but a product of their time. I'm content. Not 100% satisfied, but content.
Spanish audio is not available for "Scent-Imental Romeo" and "The Lion's Busy." German audio is not available for "A Wild Hare," "Buckaroo Bugs," "Ali Baba Bunny," "Wise Quacking Duck," "What Makes Daffy Duck," "Little Red Rodent Hood," "Birdy and the Beast," "Home, Tweet Home," "Scent-Imental Romeo," "The High and Flighty," "Tabasco Road" and "Mexicali Shmoes."
Platinum Collection Booklet: Instead of DigiBook packaging a la Volume One, Volume Two simply includes a small 28-page booklet (with archive images and a cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck) that tucks inside the standard Blu-ray case. The only real downside, though, is the number of errors in the booklet, the vast majority of which thankfully involve special features being connected to incorrect discs. (For example, "Forever Befuddled" and "King-Size Comedy" are mention as Disc One extras when they actually appear on Disc Two and Disc Three respectively.)
Audio Commentaries: Disc One offers nineteen tracks - "A Wild Hare" with Greg Ford, "Buckaroo Bugs" with Michael Barrier and Bob Clampett, "Buckaroo Bugs" with John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio, "Long-Haired Hare" with Barrier, "Ali Baba Bunny" with Ford, "Show Biz Bugs" with Ford and Pre-Score Music, "Book Revue" with Barrier, "Deduce, You Say" with Constantine Nasr, "Porky in Wackyland" with Barrier, "You Ought to Be in Pictures" with Beck, "Porky in Egypt" with Mark Kausler, "Back Alley Oproar" with Ford, "Canned Feud" with Beck, "Birdy and the Beast" with Kausler, "Scent-Imental Romeo" with Ford, "The Foghorn Leghorn" with Barrier and Robert McKimson, "The High and the Flighty" with Ford, "Tabasco Road" with Beck, and "Mexicali Schmoes" with Beck.
Disc Two offers eighteen more - "Wabbit Twouble" with Barrier and Clampett, "Rabbit Fire" with Ford and Chuck Jones, "Rabbit Seasoning" with Barrier, "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" with Eric Goldberg, "Drip-Along Daffy" with Barrier, "Tortoise Beats Hare" with Jones, "Tortoise Beats Hare" with Barrier, "Tortoise Wins By a Hare" with Kausler, "Porky's Hare Hunt" with Beck, "Elmer's Candid Camera" with Beck, "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" with Barrier, "The Bashful Buzzard" with Paul Dini, "An Itch in Time" with Kricfalusi and Bill Melendez, "Hollywood Steps Out" with Ford, "Page Miss Glory" with Will Friedwald, "Rocket-Bye Baby" with Nasr, "Russian Rhapsody" with Kausler, and "Dough Ray Me-Ow" with Beck.
Alternate Audio Programs (Discs 1 & 2): "Ali Baba Bunny" Music-Only Track, "Scent-Imental Romeo" Music and Effects Track, "The High and the Flighty" Music-Only Track, "Tabasco Road" Music-Only Track, "Mexicali Schmoes" Music-Only Track, "Rabbit Fire" Music-Only Track, "Rabbit Seasoning" Music-Only Track, "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" Music and Effects Track, "Drip-Along Daffy" Music-Only Track, and "Barbary-Coast Bunny" Music-Only Track.
Leon Schlesinger: The Merrie Cartoon Mogul (Disc 1, HD, 20 minutes): Tough and tenacious Golden Age producer Leon Schlesinger was as shrewd as they came and assembled a team to make Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes viable studio staples. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Man From Wackyland: The Art of Bob Clampett (Disc 1, SD, 21 minutes): Historians, authors, critics and other notable guests sit down to discuss the career, craft and animated canon of animator Bob Clampett. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Bosko, Buddy and the Best of Black and White (Disc 1, SD, 9 minutes): Bosko, Schlesinger's first recurring animated character; Buddy, a key character in early Warner Bros. shorts; and other nearly forgotten stars of black and white animation are revisited. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
A Hunting We Will Go: Chuck Jones' Wabbit Season Twilogy (Disc 2, SD, 10 minutes): "Rabbit Fire," "Rabbit Seasoning" and "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" Three classic Chuck Jones shorts that first gave us the Bugs and Daffy we remember most fondly. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Looney Tunes Go Hollywood (Disc 2, SD, 9 minutes): The era's biggest movie stars earned thinly veiled Looney Tunes counterparts, among them Jack Bunny, Owl Jolson, Babbitt and Catstello, and a string of cameos from the likes of Bogart, The Three Stooges, Boris Karloff, and other Hollywood players. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Looney Tunes Go to War! (Disc 2, SD, 10 minutes): Bugs, Daffy and Porky enlist in the war effort, walking a fine line between very real and frightening world events and the zaniness and spirit that made the Looney Tunes characters the cultural icons they were. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
A Conversation with Tex Avery (Disc 2, SD, 7 minutes): Famed animation director Tex Avery speaks to his work and career in this vintage interview. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Forever Befuddled (Disc 2, SD, 3 minutes): Joe Alaskey, Leonard Maltin, Noel Blanc and others pay a much-too-short tribute to Elmer Fudd. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution (Disc 3, SD, 42 minutes): This longer, more in-depth Tex Avery documentary takes full advantage of its runtime, painting a vivid picture of Avery's career, strides in animation, Looney Tunes contributions and ongoing legacy. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Tex Avery: King of Comedy (Disc 3, SD, 52 minutes): Overlap is inevitable with this much coverage, but completists will appreciate every last minute of Volume Two's Avery docs. This one is drier than the others, but no less informative. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Friz on Film (Disc 3, SD, 55 minutes): Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng appears in interview segments in this excellent documentary, which spends nearly an hour examining Freleng's history, career, talent, comic timing and classic shorts. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (Disc 3, SD, 46 minutes): Don't flinch upon learning this one is a Cartoon Network documentary. Aside from a narrator that wears out her enthusiastic welcome, "The Lost Cartoons" features rare cartoons, animation sequences, abandoned TV pilots, commercials and a live-action short. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Real American Zero: The Adventures of Private Snafu (Disc 3, SD, 9 minutes): An overview of the WWII wartime cartoons commissioned by the U.S. Army. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
The World of Leon Schlesinger (Disc 3, SD, 49 minutes): Hungry for more shorts and bits of animation? Disc Three rolls out the red carpet for even more, the first batch of which are introduced by Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck: "Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid," "Sinkin' In the Bathtub," "Crying for the Carolines," "It's Got Me Again," a "Haunting Gold Title Sequence" and "Schlesinger Production Christmas Party Reels" with optional commentary with Sigall and Beck. (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Friz at MGM (Disc 3, SD, 44 minutes): Five more shorts -- "Poultry Pirates," "A Day at the Beach," "The Captain's Christmas," "Seal Skinners" and "Mama's New Hat" -- all courtesy of Freleng. (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
The Best of the Rest of Tex (Disc 3, SD, 84 minutes): Eleven more from Tex Avery - "The Blitz Wolf," "Red Hot Riding Hood," "Screwball Squirrel," "Swift Shift Cinderella," "King-Size Canary," "Bad Luck Blackie," "Senor Droopy," "Wags to Riches," "Symphony in Slang," "Magical Maestro" and "Rock-A-Bye Bear." (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Private Snafu (Disc 3, SD, 34 minutes): Eight Private Snafu wartime shorts - "Coming!! Snafu," "Gripes," "Spies," "The Goldbrick," "The Home Front," "Rumors," "Snafuperman" and "Censored." (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
Mr. Hook (Disc 3, SD, 11 minutes): Cartoonist Hank Ketchum's Mr. Hook in three additional wartime shorts - "The Good Egg," "The Return of Mr. Hook" and "Tokyo Moves."
Warner Bros. is two for two now when it comes to classic cartoon releases (four for four if you count Tom & Jerry: The Golden Collection Volume One and the Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: Chuck Jones Collection), and the future of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection releases is more exciting than ever. The second 3-disc Looney Tunes set features fifty remastered high definition shorts, an excellent video presentation, a solid (if less than ideal) Dolby Digital Mono track, and hours upon hours of extras, including 37 commentaries, 10 alternate audio programs, documentaries heaped on top of documentaries, numerous featurettes, dozens of additional standard definition shorts, and rare archive treasures many of us have never seen before. It's a good day to be a Looney Tunes fan. Here's to Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two, the inevitable release of Volume Three, and beyond.
This week on Blu-ray offers up an eclectic cross-section of HD entertainment. First up is Moonrise Kingdom, director Wes Anderson's first live-action film since 2007's The Darjeeling Limited. A melancholy, funny tale of young love on a (fictional) island off ...
Blu-ray.com and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group are offering three members a chance to win a copy of Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two, which features fifty classic remastered animated shorts, hours of bonus content and more. Reconnect once again ...
In October, Warner Home Entertainment will bring Volume Two of the Looney Tunes: Platinum Collection to Blu-ray. This set offers fifty additional Looney Tunes cartoons from Warner's animation vaults, cartoons which showcase some of the most iconic characters in ...
