Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Ah! West and wewaxation...

Like the first volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection, Volume Two isn't a chronological dream come true, nor does it include every Looney Tunes short lifelong fans may be hoping to reacquaint themselves with. But the words "Volume Two" only reinforce the promise made with the first Platinum Collection release: never fear, there are more to come. The fact that this latest 3-disc, 50-short set features "The Complete Nasty Canasta," "The Bugs Bunny vs. Cecil Trilogy," Leon Schlesinger's "Early Wabbit" shorts, "The Complete Beaky Buzzard," the Chuck Jones "Wabbit Season Trilogy," and "The Complete A. Flea" continues to bode well for future releases and more fill-in-the-completist's-gap character treatments. (I remain enthusiastic for whatever complete character collections waiting for us in Volume Three and beyond.) As sophomore releases go, the second volume of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection functions, yet again, as a greatest hits reel and a showcase of lesser known animated shorts; as a satisfying meal and a tasty treat that leaves you hungry for more; as a strong standalone collection and the second of many exciting Looney Tunes releases. Perfection would be a chronologically arranged, 28-disc opera omnia, sure. But we'll get there, one digestible volume at a time.

1.		A Wild Hare		26.		Wabbit Twouble
2.		Buckaroo Bugs		27.		Rabbit Fire
3.		Buccaneer Bunny		28.		Rabbit Seasoning
4.		Ali Baba Bunny		29.		Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
5.		Show Biz Bugs		30.		Drip-Along Daffy
6.		The Wise Quacking Duck		31.		My Little Duckaroo
7.		What Makes Daffy Duck?		32.		Barbary-Coast Bunny
8.		Book Revue		33.		Tortoise Beats Hare
9.		Deduce, You Say		34.		Tortoise Wins By a Hare
10.		Porky in Wackyland		35.		Rabbit Transit
11.		You Ought to Be in Pictures		36.		Porky's Hare Hunt
12.		Porky in Egypt		37.		Hare-Um Scare-Um
13.		Back Alley Oproar		38.		Prest-O Change-O
14.		Little Red Rodent Hood		39.		Elmer's Candid Camera
15.		Canned Feud		40.		Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid
16.		Gift Wrapped		41.		The Bashful Buzzard
17.		Birdy and the Beast		42.		The Lion's Busy
18.		Home, Tweet Home		43.		Strife with Father
19.		Going! Going! Gosh!		44.		An Itch in Time
20.		Zipping Along		45.		A Horsefly Fleas
21.		Scent-Imental Romeo		46.		Hollywood Steps Out
22.		The Foghorn Leghorn		47.		Page Miss Glory
23.		The High and the Flighty		48.		Rocket-Bye Baby
24.		Tabasco Road		49.		Russian Rhapsody
25.		Mexicali Schmoes		50.		Dough Ray Me-Ow

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Variety, variety, variety. Volume Two offers more than the standard Looney Tunes fare, and isn't a casual viewer's collection comprised solely of the best and brightest animated shorts remastered from the most pristine film elements. A number of source issues afflict the second volume's fifty shorts -- nicks, scratches, lines, flickering and other minor blemishes -- and grain is rather sporadic, particularly when comparing one short to the next. (Which, frankly, is a pointless exercise, given the vast differences in their production, age, and the condition of their source materials.) And yet it's hard to imagine any of it looking any better than it does here. Granted, a fuller frame-by-frame restoration could have eliminated even more of these imperfections, but those that remain are easily overlooked and hardly amount to a significant distraction. Otherwise, nothing holds Volume Two back. Colors have been rejuvenated, the animators' original line art is clean and refined, contrast is dialed in nicely (and normalized with care), black levels are rich and inky, and most every background brush stroke texture and detail in the original cels appears to be intact. Like Volume One, Warner's latest Looney Tunes presentation is impressive, from the oldest black and white Porky Pig short to the classics that look as if they rolled out of the animation studios yesterday.

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like Volume One, Volume Two arrives with a decent 192kbps Dolby Digital Mono mix that captures the song, dance and scuffles of each short without presenting any real issues. Would a lossless track have been more ideal? Undoubtedly. Would it have made a significant difference? I doubt it, much as I wish a lossless track had been included. Voices are clear, sound effects are crisp and clean, and the music is bright and playful. But the sound design is still decades old (minor crackling and hiss creep in here and there), 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 resonate or, honestly, register.

Spanish audio is not available for "Scent-Imental Romeo" and "The Lion's Busy." German audio is not available for "A Wild Hare," "Buckaroo Bugs," "Ali Baba Bunny," "Wise Quacking Duck," "What Makes Daffy Duck," "Little Red Rodent Hood," "Birdy and the Beast," "Home, Tweet Home," "Scent-Imental Romeo," "The High and Flighty," "Tabasco Road" and "Mexicali Shmoes."

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Platinum Collection Booklet: Instead of DigiBook packaging a la Volume One, Volume Two simply includes a small 28-page booklet (with archive images and a cartoon guide by historian Jerry Beck) that tucks inside the standard Blu-ray case. The only real downside, though, is the number of errors in the booklet, the vast majority of which thankfully involve special features being connected to incorrect discs. (For example, "Forever Befuddled" and "King-Size Comedy" are mention as Disc One extras when they actually appear on Disc Two and Disc Three respectively.)
• Audio Commentaries: Disc One offers nineteen tracks - "A Wild Hare" with Greg Ford, "Buckaroo Bugs" with Michael Barrier and Bob Clampett, "Buckaroo Bugs" with John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio, "Long-Haired Hare" with Barrier, "Ali Baba Bunny" with Ford, "Show Biz Bugs" with Ford and Pre-Score Music, "Book Revue" with Barrier, "Deduce, You Say" with Constantine Nasr, "Porky in Wackyland" with Barrier, "You Ought to Be in Pictures" with Beck, "Porky in Egypt" with Mark Kausler, "Back Alley Oproar" with Ford, "Canned Feud" with Beck, "Birdy and the Beast" with Kausler, "Scent-Imental Romeo" with Ford, "The Foghorn Leghorn" with Barrier and Robert McKimson, "The High and the Flighty" with Ford, "Tabasco Road" with Beck, and "Mexicali Schmoes" with Beck.
  
  Disc Two offers eighteen more - "Wabbit Twouble" with Barrier and Clampett, "Rabbit Fire" with Ford and Chuck Jones, "Rabbit Seasoning" with Barrier, "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" with Eric Goldberg, "Drip-Along Daffy" with Barrier, "Tortoise Beats Hare" with Jones, "Tortoise Beats Hare" with Barrier, "Tortoise Wins By a Hare" with Kausler, "Porky's Hare Hunt" with Beck, "Elmer's Candid Camera" with Beck, "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" with Barrier, "The Bashful Buzzard" with Paul Dini, "An Itch in Time" with Kricfalusi and Bill Melendez, "Hollywood Steps Out" with Ford, "Page Miss Glory" with Will Friedwald, "Rocket-Bye Baby" with Nasr, "Russian Rhapsody" with Kausler, and "Dough Ray Me-Ow" with Beck.
• Alternate Audio Programs (Discs 1 & 2): "Ali Baba Bunny" Music-Only Track, "Scent-Imental Romeo" Music and Effects Track, "The High and the Flighty" Music-Only Track, "Tabasco Road" Music-Only Track, "Mexicali Schmoes" Music-Only Track, "Rabbit Fire" Music-Only Track, "Rabbit Seasoning" Music-Only Track, "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" Music and Effects Track, "Drip-Along Daffy" Music-Only Track, and "Barbary-Coast Bunny" Music-Only Track.
• Leon Schlesinger: The Merrie Cartoon Mogul (Disc 1, HD, 20 minutes): Tough and tenacious Golden Age producer Leon Schlesinger was as shrewd as they came and assembled a team to make Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes viable studio staples. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Man From Wackyland: The Art of Bob Clampett (Disc 1, SD, 21 minutes): Historians, authors, critics and other notable guests sit down to discuss the career, craft and animated canon of animator Bob Clampett. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Bosko, Buddy and the Best of Black and White (Disc 1, SD, 9 minutes): Bosko, Schlesinger's first recurring animated character; Buddy, a key character in early Warner Bros. shorts; and other nearly forgotten stars of black and white animation are revisited. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• A Hunting We Will Go: Chuck Jones' Wabbit Season Twilogy (Disc 2, SD, 10 minutes): "Rabbit Fire," "Rabbit Seasoning" and "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!" Three classic Chuck Jones shorts that first gave us the Bugs and Daffy we remember most fondly. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Looney Tunes Go Hollywood (Disc 2, SD, 9 minutes): The era's biggest movie stars earned thinly veiled Looney Tunes counterparts, among them Jack Bunny, Owl Jolson, Babbitt and Catstello, and a string of cameos from the likes of Bogart, The Three Stooges, Boris Karloff, and other Hollywood players. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Looney Tunes Go to War! (Disc 2, SD, 10 minutes): Bugs, Daffy and Porky enlist in the war effort, walking a fine line between very real and frightening world events and the zaniness and spirit that made the Looney Tunes characters the cultural icons they were. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• A Conversation with Tex Avery (Disc 2, SD, 7 minutes): Famed animation director Tex Avery speaks to his work and career in this vintage interview. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Forever Befuddled (Disc 2, SD, 3 minutes): Joe Alaskey, Leonard Maltin, Noel Blanc and others pay a much-too-short tribute to Elmer Fudd. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery and the Looney Tunes Revolution (Disc 3, SD, 42 minutes): This longer, more in-depth Tex Avery documentary takes full advantage of its runtime, painting a vivid picture of Avery's career, strides in animation, Looney Tunes contributions and ongoing legacy. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Tex Avery: King of Comedy (Disc 3, SD, 52 minutes): Overlap is inevitable with this much coverage, but completists will appreciate every last minute of Volume Two's Avery docs. This one is drier than the others, but no less informative. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Friz on Film (Disc 3, SD, 55 minutes): Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng appears in interview segments in this excellent documentary, which spends nearly an hour examining Freleng's history, career, talent, comic timing and classic shorts. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (Disc 3, SD, 46 minutes): Don't flinch upon learning this one is a Cartoon Network documentary. Aside from a narrator that wears out her enthusiastic welcome, "The Lost Cartoons" features rare cartoons, animation sequences, abandoned TV pilots, commercials and a live-action short. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Real American Zero: The Adventures of Private Snafu (Disc 3, SD, 9 minutes): An overview of the WWII wartime cartoons commissioned by the U.S. Army. (With English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• The World of Leon Schlesinger (Disc 3, SD, 49 minutes): Hungry for more shorts and bits of animation? Disc Three rolls out the red carpet for even more, the first batch of which are introduced by Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck: "Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid," "Sinkin' In the Bathtub," "Crying for the Carolines," "It's Got Me Again," a "Haunting Gold Title Sequence" and "Schlesinger Production Christmas Party Reels" with optional commentary with Sigall and Beck. (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Friz at MGM (Disc 3, SD, 44 minutes): Five more shorts -- "Poultry Pirates," "A Day at the Beach," "The Captain's Christmas," "Seal Skinners" and "Mama's New Hat" -- all courtesy of Freleng. (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• The Best of the Rest of Tex (Disc 3, SD, 84 minutes): Eleven more from Tex Avery - "The Blitz Wolf," "Red Hot Riding Hood," "Screwball Squirrel," "Swift Shift Cinderella," "King-Size Canary," "Bad Luck Blackie," "Senor Droopy," "Wags to Riches," "Symphony in Slang," "Magical Maestro" and "Rock-A-Bye Bear." (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Private Snafu (Disc 3, SD, 34 minutes): Eight Private Snafu wartime shorts - "Coming!! Snafu," "Gripes," "Spies," "The Goldbrick," "The Home Front," "Rumors," "Snafuperman" and "Censored." (All with English SDH, Spanish and German SDH subtitles.)
• Mr. Hook (Disc 3, SD, 11 minutes): Cartoonist Hank Ketchum's Mr. Hook in three additional wartime shorts - "The Good Egg," "The Return of Mr. Hook" and "Tokyo Moves."

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner Bros. is two for two now when it comes to classic cartoon releases (four for four if you count Tom & Jerry: The Golden Collection Volume One and the Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: Chuck Jones Collection), and the future of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection releases is more exciting than ever. The second 3-disc Looney Tunes set features fifty remastered high definition shorts, an excellent video presentation, a solid (if less than ideal) Dolby Digital Mono track, and hours upon hours of extras, including 37 commentaries, 10 alternate audio programs, documentaries heaped on top of documentaries, numerous featurettes, dozens of additional standard definition shorts, and rare archive treasures many of us have never seen before. It's a good day to be a Looney Tunes fan. Here's to Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume Two, the inevitable release of Volume Three, and beyond.