Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs-traordinary Adventure (2003)

 

After the success of the TV series Muppet Babies in 1984, those in the cartoon industry wanted to compete with this success by producing shows featuring classic cartoon characters as small children. This brought such shows such as The Flintstone Kids, Yo, Yogi!, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry Kids (my personal favorite of these shows). Tiny Toon Adventures both bucked and followed this trend by having a cast of younger versions of the Looney Tunes characters that were being educated in the art of cartoons by the original Looney Tunes characters. Premiering in 2002, Baby Looney Tunes was a more traditional version of this trend actually featuring baby versions of the classic Looney Tunes characters. Unlike previous Looney Tunes shows and films (which were aimed at the widest possible audience), Baby Looney Tunes was aimed squarely at young children. Because of its ultra sweet and cutesy tone, many cartoon purists hated and still hate this series with a passion. Yet the show was extremely popular with its intended audience. Many who were kids at the time remember that this is what they used to watch when they stayed home sick from school. The series remains quite popular to this day and still airs on TV almost daily. With this popularity it was only natural that a feature length movie would be made. The result was the direct to video Easter movie, Baby Looney Tunes' Eggs-traordinary Adventure.       


In this movie, Granny tells the babies the story of the Easter Bunny. The babies, especially Taz, get very excited about the Easter Bunny's visit the following day. This is except for Daffy, who doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny and tries to tell the other babies that there is no Easter Bunny. 

With my quest to review every feature length Looney Tunes movie, this film proves to be the hardest to review. As an adult cartoon fan, I am not the intended audience. Yet I admit that this movie has its charms. It is very cute and sweet. The ending is especially cute and charming. Its message about the importance of childlike faith and imagination as well as accepting the beliefs of others is very important for kids and one that adults can appreciate as well. The characters are also very likable and relatable. We can all relate to Bugs' reluctance to believe in something that he has never seen but being afraid to ruin the day for others with his lack of faith. All of us have also gone through a period of wondering whether or not there was an Easter Bunny (or Santa Claus), wanting to believe but simply not being sure. We can also relate to how Lola, Sylvester and Tweety want to prove to that there is an Easter Bunny. We have all also known a kid like Daffy who doesn't believe in the Easter Bunny (or Santa Claus) and delights in making fun of the kids who do believe. 

This movie has a few flaws though. Even at only an hour long, this film feels like a half hour TV episode padded out to feature length. There are some moments that don't really contribute anything to the story and just seem to be there to make it longer. The couple song numbers here are also bland and forgettable. 

I didn't laugh at any of the humor here but then again, I am not the intended audience. There is nothing embarrassing about the gags here and I can't say whether or not a small child would laugh at them. 

The director of this movie is Gloria Yuh Jenkins, who was the supervising director for many episodes of the children's cartoon show, Dragon Tales. She is most prolific as a storyboard artist she has worked on such TV series as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Batman, Word Girl and Care Bears Welcome to Care A Lot. She also worked as the producer on the first three seasons of Baby Looney Tunes.

The credited writers are Tim Cahill and Julie McNally Cahill. The husband-and-wife team of Tim Cahill and Julie McNally Cahill have worked on such shows as Animaniacs, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Histeria, Baby Looney Tunes and The Tom and Jerry Show. They are credited as developing the TV series Littlest Pet Shop as well and they also worked on the direct to video movies Tweety's High-Flying Adventure (2000) and Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (2001). 

The DVD for this direct to video movie also includes a couple episodes from the TV series (Flower Power (2002) and The Magic of Spring (2002)) and two song numbers from the show (D-A-F-F-Y and Mary Had a Baby Duck) as well as an interactive challenge called Granny's Activity Day. 



This is a charming movie for little kids and is a decent time passer for adult Looney Tunes fans.