Michael's Movie Grade: A+
A near-perfect feature length cartoon.
As a massive Looney Tunes fan, this is everything I could have possibly wanted from a feature length Looney Tunes movie. This is exactly what I have wanted from each Looney Tunes movie that has come out in recent years. This somehow feels like a feature length version of a classic Looney Tunes short without feeling needlessly padded to make it feature length. Rather at an hour and a half, the film speeds by without ever once losing momentum. One reason for this is that the filmmakers dig deeper into who these characters are while still keeping them feeling like the old characters. Daffy here is not the Chuck Jones greedy, fame-obsessed and cowardly version of the character but instead the earlier Bob Clampett completely looney version, who jumps up and down going "woo-hoo woo-hoo." Yet there is some depth behind all this zaniness. He is also well intentioned and simply wants to help and feel needed. Yet his zaniness often simply causes more trouble, even when he intends to help. Porky is his straight man and constant friend, just as he was in Bob Clampett directed cartoons teaming the two (Porky and Daffy (1938), Tick Tock Tuckered (1944), Baby Bottleneck (1946)). Yet as Daffy seems to constantly screw things up, even Porky's patience has its limits. This causes a real rift in their friendship. This is a dynamic that hasn't really been explored with these characters before. It is handled very well here and causes us to have an emotional investment in this often-wacky storyline. This emotional investment is only helped by the surprisingly sweet and adorable romance between Porky and Petunia. These three characters and their relationships with each other make it so we don't even miss the other Looney Tunes characters, as they are the only three major Looney Tunes characters that appear (making this the first feature length Looney Tunes movie not to feature Bugs Bunny).
This is not to say this movie is liking in the sight gags that we all love. In fact, the opposite can be said here. The whole film is abounding in nearly constant gags. While obviously there are some gags that don't work, it is shocking how many are truly funny. I find myself laughing, giggling and chuckling at most of these gags. Yet this constant brigade of gags never becomes tiresome or overwhelming. Instead, they seem to flow naturally from the story and characters, even with how extremely over the top and cartoon-y they often are. I also love how this movie is not afraid to truly be a feature-length cartoon, that is not afraid to be filled with the impossible cartoon-y gags that we find in a classic Looney Tunes short.
This is also a very visually handsome film. It utilizes 2-D animation, in a time when that is becoming rare in American animated movies. Yet watching this film will remind many cartoon fans of why the fell in love with this art style to begin with. The character animation and the pure cartoon-iness of much of the visuals help make this a must see for fans of the classic animation style. Also, in the vein of the classic shorts, the backgrounds are full of little Easter eggs for Looney Tunes fans.
This film's director is Peter Browngardt, one of the greatest modern-day practitioners of pure cartoon mayhem. He is the series developer and creative director for the Looney Tunes Cartoons series on Max and the creator of the TV show, Uncle Grandpa. Before that he had worked on such cartoon series as Futurama, The Venture Bros. and Chowder. This marks his first feature length film. He is currently working on an untitled Pokémon project for Ardman Animation.
Every Looney Tunes fan needs to see this movie to support Looney Tunes in movie theaters (where they belong), 2-D animation and animated film featuring actual voice actors (Eric Bauza, Candi Milo (Bob Clampett's daughter Ruth Clampett voices a minor character)) instead of big named celebrities. However, every Looney Tunes fans also needs to see this movie because it is incredibly good.
It is a shame that this movie was not better promoted than it was but if you are reading this, go out and see it.
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