REVIEW: The Looney Tunes Show

[brendala]

So, tonight the new Looney Tunes Show premiered. The premise of this show is that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are living together (PLATONICALLY!) and they get into various, Three's Company-esque room-mate shenanigans together. And other Looney Tunes characters occasionally participate in said shenanigans. The premise seemed interesting, so I gave it a chance. And the show is really funny! I actually laughed out loud at a lot of the jokes!





***WARNING: The following review contains spoilers***

The main plot of the premier episode centers around Daffy desprately wanting to get on a TV show (yep, he's still a fame whore). He decides that a game show is the way to go (mainly because they give out sweet prizes), but he's too stupid to win a trivia show. He decides that he and Bugs should go on a show called "Besties" where pairs of best friends compete to see who knows the most about each other. Problem is, Daffy is such a narcissist that he doesn't even know Bugs' last name after being friends for 17 years (I didn't pull the "17 years" number out of my butt. Bugs actually says that's how long they've been friends in this show).

I wont spoil the ending, I'm just going to say that the final message about friendship was both poignant and hilarious. And, best of all, Speedy Gonzales has a role in this series and he gets to shine in all his Mexican-accented glory (remember back in the 90s when a bunch of white dudes at Warner Bros. studio banned his cartoons for being "offensive" only to find out later that Mexicans actually LOVE Speedy?).

As for the show's art/design...I'm neutral on it. It works overall. But some characters look a little off (I can't put my finger on why; but Elmer Fudd's new design bugged me).


My only quibbles with this show are...

1) Daffy being rock stupid: I'm a bit torn on Daffy's characterization as a complete idiot (seriously, he makes Gourry Gabriev look like Steven Hawking). I cant deny that it's funny; but I remember Daffy being somewhat clever in the original shorts and that's the version of him I'm attached to.

2) Lola (aka the trampy girl rabbit from that god-awful Space Jam movie) being in the show: I saw her in the theme song; which means she'll likely show up at some point. She was a lame character in Space Jam and, if they need females for this show, I'd prefer it if they used Petunia Pig or that female duck from that old James Bond parody starring Daffy.
But hey, who knows. Maybe this show will make her character fun.


I don't want to fall in love with this show just yet (I already made that mistake with Mystery Incorporated **sob**). But I will definitely make it a point to keep watching this.


Long story short: I HIGHLY recommend checking this show out. I think just about anyone (even the hardcore fans of the original Looney Tunes shorts) will get a kick out of it.

Comments

[dj-rocca.livejournal.com]

It looked good from the promos but unfortunately its on the same time as Glee. And unfortunately though Glee really really sucks as of late, I've put almost two full seasons into this series. So I kinda want to stick around.

But in the off season I will be tuning in!

[brendala.livejournal.com]

CN has been promoting the hell out of this show. So I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to catch a rerun.

[pharoah999.livejournal.com]

my brother mentioned something about this. ill have to check it out! im a bugs fan! At walmart, they have a bugs bunny collection that i want to get^^

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely going to give it a try. Just programmed it into the DVR.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Nice! I'll have to check this show out. I've been wondering whey they would try a new Looney Toons.

You know what's funny, turns out the Swedish Chef from the Muppets is really popular in Sweden as well. It's just funny how you would think these character might appear offensive are actually very much loved. XD

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to give Lola a chance.

Daffy is clever. He mostly gets defeated because he's the universe's chew toy! Urgh, I don't want him to be stupid :(

Agreement on the art. Daffy looks okay, but bugs looks... odd.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I found some preview clips of New-Lola online. They've apparently re-vamped her as a total ditz instead of the sexpot she was in Space Jam.

Usually, it bothers me when female characters lose a few dozen IQ points just to serve a plot (*sob* poor Velma...*sob*), but I think it works for Lola. In the clips I've seen, she's silly and funny instead of just a one-note piece of furry fap fodder like she was in Space Jam.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Hopefully not too ditzy. But some ditzy characters can really make it work (like glinda or Charlotte...)

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

It's sad, but I was never a big fan of Looney Tunes. It bugged me so much that it didn't matter what a character did, it was who they were that determined if they would succeed or fail. I always liked Daffy Duck, but he couldn't ever win against Bugs Bunny since he wasn't Bugs Bunny. Same goes with Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, Sylvester and Tweety Bird, etc. It just bothered me!

But anyway, they made Daffy a dunce? Seriously? He's always been very smart, if not...daffy, hence his name. If he wasn't at all smart, there's no way he could have ever avoided being shot by Elmer Fudd. Back in the older cartoons anyway, before the days of Duck Season and Rabbit Season...

Did they animate the new series in Flash? It looks very wrong to me. I might have to seek out character art just to see the changes.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

The cartoon is fully animated. The still images make it look like Flash; but the show looks a lot better in motion.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Ah, you can do traditional frame-by-frame animation in Flash, actually. Pull up the original teaser trailer for Disney's Princess and the Frog. Animated in Flash. Also, I checked out a clip of the animation, and it sure screams Flash to me, down to having a drop shadow for each character. Looks like they're trying to replicate the look of old cel animation digitally.