"LOONEY TUNES SUPER STARS"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars)
Not Rated
Studio: Warner Bros.
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Continuing its roll-out on DVD of the hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons, Warner Bros. has dropped a couple nice single-disc collections of the lesser characters from the Looney Tunes stable. Tweety & Sylvester and Foghorn Leghorn have never been on the top of my list, but they’re fun to revisit in these two-hour chunks.
Of course, Tweety and his antics tend to get much more play than Foghorn Leghorn does. You’ll find Tweety (and often Sylvester) headlining many other collections after Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. But having a disc of mostly Foghorn Leghorn cartoons is a little more rare. Adding to the rarity of this release is the Foghorn Leghorn title comes with the now-familiar disclaimer on the box and on the disc before the menu: “Looney Tunes Super Stars: Foghorn Leghorn & Friends Barnyard Bigmouth is intended for the Adult Collector and May Not Be Suitable for Children.”
While the necessity of this disclaimer still annoys me (as most requirements of our current overly-PC society does), I’d rather take some verbiage over not being able to see the cartoons. In the defense of political incorrectness, these Foghorn Leghorn cartoons aren’t really bad at all. There are some negative stereotypes tossed in and some violence that might not be suitable for the youngest viewers, but they’re very fun nonetheless.
BONUS MATERIAL
As with most single-disc releases of a cartoon collection, there are no bonus features. The cartoons themselves are the selling point.
FOGHORN LEGHORN & FRIENDS: BARNYARD BIGMOUTH
MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
The more collectable of these two releases includes fifteen cartoons with Foghorn Leghorn, Henry Hawk, Egghead Jr., Elmer Fudd and the Goofy Gophers. Fourteen of these shorts have never been released on DVD, so it’s possible they’re relatively new to home viewing if your television isn’t permanently tuned to a cartoon station.
Cartoons included in this edition are “All Fowled Up,” “Fox-Terror,” “A Broken Leghorn,” “Crockett-Doodle-Doo,” “Weasel While You Work, “”Weasel Stop,” “Little Boy Boo,” “Banty Raids,” “Strangled Eggs,” “Gopher Broke,” “ A Mutt in a Rut,” “Mouse-Placed Kitten,” “Cheese It, the Cat!,” “Two Crows from Tacos” and “Crows’ Feet.”
Yeah, none of these are from the infamous Censored Eleven, but they still carry some notorious flavor with less-than-PC elements of today. Nine of the cartoons headline Foghorn Leghorn, so it’s a nice way to brush up on the big-mouth rooster’s headlining days.
Of course, my favorite appearance is the Goofy Gophers, whom you almost never see nowadays.
TWEETY & SYLVESTER: FELINE FWENZY
MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
The Tweety & Sylvester collection has fifteen cartoons as well, though none of them are unique to this release. Still, for fans of the bird-and-cat team, it’s a nice selection of choices, including the Oscar-winning “Tweetie Pie” short.
Additional cartoons available on this disc include “Bad Ol’ Putty Tat,” “All A Bir-r-r-d,” “Canary Row,” “Putty Tat Trouble,” “Room and Bird,” “Tweety’s S.O.S.,” “Tweet Tweet Tweety,” “Gift Wrapped,” “Ain’t She Tweet,” “Snow Business,” “Satan’s Waitin’,” “The Last Hungry Cat,” “Birds Anonymous” and “Tweety and the Beanstalk.”
Personal favorites of mine include “Satan’s Waitin’,” for the sheer daring nature of this type of film nowadays as well as the often-seen “Birds Anonymous,” which seems to have more of a Chuck Jones “Tom & Jerry” flavor to it than anything else.
