8.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.9 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
The characters of Looney Tunes get themselves into crazy situations.
Starring: Mel Blanc, Bill Roberts (I), June Foray, Arthur Q. Bryan, Bea BenaderetAnimation | 100% |
Family | 94% |
Comedy | 63% |
Short | 26% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1, 1.37:1, 1.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1, 1.75:1
English: Dolby Digital Mono (Original)
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
German and Spanish audio not available for all shorts
English SDH, French, German SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
No, the first volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection isn't a completist's chronological dream come true a la the first volume of the Tom & Jerry: Golden Collection. And no, you won't find every Looney Tunes short you may be hoping to reacquaint yourself with. But don't be so quick to grumble. The words "Volume One" carry a lot of promise, and the fact that the 3-disc set features "The Complete Marvin the Martian," "The Complete Tasmanian Devil," "The Complete Witch Hazel," "The Complete Marc Antony" and "The Complete Ralph Phillips" bodes well for future releases and bigger, badder fill-in-the-gap character treatments. (I'm already jazzed for whatever future volume inevitably gives us other complete character collections in anvil-dropping, eye-popping high definition.) As opening assaults go, the first volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection functions as a greatest hits reel and a showcase of lesser known animated shorts; as a satisfying meal and as a tasty treat that leaves you hungry for more; as a strong standalone collection and as the first of many Looney Tunes releases. I'll be the first to admit perfection would be a chronologically arranged, 28-disc opera omnia, but we'll get there. One easily digestible volume at a time.
Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!
1. |
Hare Tonic | 26. | One Froggy Evening | |||
2. |
Baseball Bugs | 27. | The Three Little Bops | |||
3. |
Buccaneer Bunny | 28. | I Love to Singa | |||
4. |
The Old Grey Hare | 29. | Katnip Kollege | |||
5. |
Rabbit Hood | 30. | The Dover Boys at Pimento University | |||
6. |
8 Ball Bunny | 31. | Chow Hound | |||
7. |
Rabbit of Seville | 32. | Haredevil Hare | |||
8. |
What's Opera, Doc? | 33. | The Hasty Hare | |||
9. |
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery | 34. | Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century | |||
10. |
A Pest in the House | 35. | Hare-Way to the Stars | |||
11. |
The Scarlet Pumpernickel | 36. | Mad as a Mars Hare | |||
12. |
Duck Amuck | 37. | Devil May Hare | |||
13. |
Robin Hood Daffy | 38. | Bedevilled Rabbit | |||
14. |
Baby Bottleneck | 39. | Ducking the Devil | |||
15. |
Kitty Kornered | 40. | Bill of Hare | |||
16. |
Scaredy Cat | 41. | Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare | |||
17. |
Porky Chops | 42. | Bewitched Bunny | |||
18. |
Old Glory | 43. | Broom-Stick Bunny | |||
19. |
A Tale of Two Kitties | 44. | A Witch's Tangled Hare | |||
20. |
Tweetie Pie | 45. | A-Haunting We Will Go | |||
21. |
Fast and Furry-Ous | 46. | Feed the Kitty | |||
22. |
Beep, Beep | 47. | Kiss Me Kat | |||
23. |
Lovelorn Leghorn | 48. | Feline Frame-Up | |||
24. |
For Scent-imental Reasons | 49. | From A to Z-Z-Z-Z | |||
25. |
Speedy Gonzales | 50. | Boyhood Daze |
If Volume One's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is criticized, it will be for the nicks, scratches, scuffs, dirt, dust and marks that occasionally appear. However, each imperfection is inherent to the original source and animation cels, and has little or nothing to do with the tender, loving, restorative care Warner has afforded the various shorts. The Looney Tunes palette is alive and kicking, with bright colors, vivid primaries and inky blacks drizzled from the animators' pens. Every last detail and flick of the wrist is present and accounted for as well, and it holds up well under high definition scrutiny. (So long as your expectations are informed and reasonable.) Grain varies from short to short, sure. But such is the nature of the faithful-remastering game. Softness sometimes intrude but, once again, concerned parties should submit their complaints to the fifty to seventy-year-old source materials, not the encode itself, the remastering methodology or the studio's commitment to the project. Macroblocking, banding, aliasing, ringing and other eye-gougers are nowhere to be seen, and compression anomalies and other digital oddities simply aren't a factor. A select few shorts even come close to looking as if they were animated yesterday; no small feat considering that couldn't be farther from the truth. There is, of course, a filmic unevenness to the presentation that's especially noticeable when plowing from short to short in one sitting. That hardly qualifies as an issue, though, and doesn't detract from the otherwise meticulous remaster and impressive technical transfer. It doesn't get much better than this, Looney Tuners. Enjoy.
Volume One earns a serviceable 192kbps Dolby Digital Mono mix that captures the song, dance and scuffles of each short without a hitch. Would a lossless track have been more ideal? Undoubtedly. Would it have made a significant difference? I doubt it. Voices are clear, sound effects are crisp and clean, and the music is bright and playful. But the sound design is still fifty to seventy years old (minor crackling and hiss creep in from time to time), and it shows in the at-times thin-n-tinny tone and LFE-less tenor of the single-channel experience. None of it disappoints per se, but the mono mix doesn't really resonate or, honestly, register either.
Spanish audio is not available for "Bewitched Bunny" and "A Witch's Tangled Hare." German audio is not available for "Buccaneer Bunny," "The Old Grey Hare," "Rabbit Hood," "8 Ball Bunny," "A Pest in the House," "A Tale of Two Kitties," "Lovelorn Leghorn," "Bewitched Bunny" and "A Witch's Tangled Hare."
Thirty-seven audio commentaries, seventeen alternate audio programs, three documentaries, eleven featurettes, nineteen bonus shorts, a classy 52-page Digibook... what more could you ask for? If you said, "all of the above, plus a framed litho cel, a collectible character glass, a souvenir tin sign and an oversized box to stash it all in," be sure to add the Volume One Ultimate Collector's Edition to your cart. If you said, "every extra presented in high definition," well... we can't always get everything we want, now can we?
They might be old, but don't count 'em out. Bugs, Elmer, Daffy and the rest of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies gang still have plenty of pep in their step, even some fifty to seventy years later. It isn't everything every fan could want, but the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One is a great start to what promises to be a fantastic compilation of all things Looney and Merrie. Warner's Blu-ray release doesn't make many missteps either. Its lossy (but adequate) Dolby Digital mono track will no doubt raise a few eyebrows, but its true-to-the-source video transfer and heaps-upon-heaps of special features more than make up for any slight disappointment anyone feels. It isn't a glossy redux, it isn't a hyper-polished, grain-quashed mess; it's pure Looney Tunes fun for purists and kids of all ages.
Ultimate Collector's Edition
1930-1969
Volume One
1930-1969
1930-1969
1930-1969
1930-1969
Limited Edition / Limited to 30,000 Copies
1930-1969
Warner Archive Collection
1930-1969
Warner Archive Collection
1930-1969
Warner Archive Collection
1930-1969
Warner Archive Collection
1930-1969
1930-1969
Warner Archive Collection
1940-1967
Peanuts Collection / + It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown
1965
Peanuts Collection / + Mayflower Voyagers
1973
1933-1942
1999
1993-1998
1964-1980
2015
1960-1966
Special Edition
2017
1989-2008
2007-2012
2021
2017
1990-1991
1987-1990
+ It's Magic, Charlie Brown / Charlie Brown's All-Stars
1966
Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular
2010
The Signature Collection
1961
1969-1978