DVD : Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Three

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- I love this cartoon...and this one...and this one....
What a great - okay, ANOTHER great collection of Warner Brother cartoon gems.
As the discs played on, I caught myself saying "I love this cartoon," then "and this one"..."and this one...." which I did on the previous two volumes - but many of these were not as familiar.

Volume Three is a wonderful mixed-bag of genres, popular characters, classics and rarities. There are many shorts in this collection that I have either seen only once (and many moons ago, so I barely remember them) or have never seen before and was pleased as punch to watch.

The way this set is produced is fantastic on so many levels. The 'Porky Pig' disc is a wonderful history lesson in animation; from the very early black and whites to the full color and fully fleshed-out Porky that we all know today. Also, the 'Hollywood' disc reveals a bit of Hollywood history with the references of the movie stars and movies of the golden days...just to point out two examples.
Watching "Philbert" was a real treat, too. Before this set, I had only seen model sheets and a very short video clip.

According to my VHS collection there are still many more classics to fill future volumes. So, the only thing left to say is, "Please, bring on Volume 4."

Rating:

- More of the Best, please
While there is nothing disappointing about the cartoons themselves on this collection, it is a shame more material with Fog Horn Leg Horn and Yosemite Sam were not included. While one can appreciate the various spoofs on Hollywood Disc 2 in this collection offers, it seems as if Warner Brothers is padding the most popular material with cartoons of lesser interest. This may mean that we wil see multiple issues of collections like this for years to come with the best material scattered across Volumes 4, 5, 6, etc and many hundreds of dollars. The entertainment industry doesn't like piracy but it sure looks for marketing and sales angles that force consumers to buy things they wouldn't otherwise buy in order to get what they want -- witness the "Greatest Hits" phenomenon. Secondly, as many reviewers have pointed out, Whoopi Goldberg's HR training course on sensitivity is a waste of disc space. For a woman whose stage name is slang for fornication and who has distinguished herself as one of the most foul-mouthed offensive entertainers around to lecture anyone about what is offensive is mind boggling. I don't care what Warner Brothers' team of legal idiots or management clowns decided was best -- this is not only insulting but a waste of disc space. If Warner Brothers feels strongly about having Miss Goldberg make a disclaimer, then indicate as much on the packaging. Hopefully, Miss Goldberg won't be walking out on stage of any productions of Othello to raise the consciousness of the audience on behalf of Shakespeare's benighted understanding of human nature. And for those who state the obvious -- that Goldberg's nonsense can be skipped -- the more people who gripe the better. What's on board for Volume 4 -- Madonna lecturing people about the retrograde views of gender in Bugs Bunny?

Rating:

- Historical and Valued animation ... BUT WAIT!!
I truly enjoy every installment of the Looney Tunes Golden Collections. The quality of the transfers is better then anything we've seen so far (hopefully HD transfer will be coming in future sets), the content is always worthy of study by the animation public, and above all it's entertaining and fun. I have one major complaint however that has forced me to hold off from purchasing any of these titles. The organization of the selections. Since the first volume I have noticed a lack of guidence or order in any of the discs. The collections have no worthwhile structure of any kind as of yet. Seems to me titles are picked by the vaults at random. Directors are on one volume given all the selections (Chuck Jones) and on another volumes given nothing. Bob Mckimson has still not been given the time of day on any of these collections. Volumes one and two split up the work of Bob Clampett and spread it haphazardly over the sets, forcing me to switch discs whenever I want to see his work. Now mind you the cartoons included on each disc are great indeed but the ordering of selections is important to how one views a package overall. In future sets down the line I hope they take the obvious root and categorize the collections by directors. I want the complete Clampett, Jones, Mckimson ... and on and on. Hopefully once all their work has been newly cleaned and transfered these sets will be made. As it is I'll stick to borrowing these additions from the library and trusted friends.
On a lighter note I will give a healthy vote of confidence to the special features on each volume. Documentaries on the great animators like Rob Scribner and Ken Harris are treasured additions. Special short film inclusions like "The Bear That Wasn't" are also phenomenal. (Though I also wish the special features were saved for the fourth disc of each set rather then spread throughout). Big ups to Jerry Beck and all the fine staff that work on updating the world to the history of American animation.

Rating:

- All About the Tunes (Whoopi, Hot Coffee, and Blazin Saddles)
First off, for those of you who waste time bashing Whoopi, you're missing the point. It ain't her fault that she's on the DVD's. If you got a problem with her, blame it first on America and her wimpy sensetivities. Secondly, you can blame Warner. If we weren't so sensative about sex, racial issues (and this is coming from a black man in America) and just let people be, we wouldn't have to worry about including things like what Whoopi had to do on this DVD. Warner is doing the right thing and protecting their behinds. If not, you all would still complain that there wasn't a warning.

Imagine if Blazing Saddles came out in theaters today and nobody gave a statement like what Whoopi said. There would be people all over the place wining and crying about, "Oh I didn't know it was going to be this bad." It should be understood in now-a-days that if you don't put the warning label on things in America, someone will cry, sue, or in some way raise hell. McDonalds can testify to that. (Remember the lady who sued them cause she didn't know the coffee was hot.)

Some of y'all dove into Whoopi's character and that's another issue. I'm not a fan of her either, but she's a better choice than using someone we don't know, or someone who doesn't fit the bill. Imagine Ben Afflec or Dan Quail giving the speach. Would you like that? Whould you make a lot of noise if Mr. Marcus or Jesse Jackson made the speach? Just leave it be and watch the tunes. Besides, why are you all complaining about something that you can easily skip over. Don't watch it.

Now as for the tunes, they are good. I just wish, like many others, that we could see a little more of Foghorn, Yosemite Sam, and my favorite, Daffy. The arrangement of cartoons is very good. I haven't seen all of them, and have somehow missed the ones that are suppose to be offensive. Like I said, I haven't seen all of the discs yet.

I also enjoy that they include the behind the scenes information. It's good to see the people that created this great collection of cartoons.

One think in particular is when they explain the trilogy of tunes with Bugs and Daffy. I also appreciate that they were not so cruel as to put only one or two of the trilogy in the collection. All three are there and well explained. I don't remember, but I think they also go into the series of cartoons where Porky and Sylvester are in the haunted house. One of these was included in Volume 1 of the Golden Collection.

Overall it is a great addition to the collection and well worth the money. I really wish we didn't have to wait a year between sets, but if they continue to come out with quality DVDs such as this, I can hang on.

Rating:

- No Whoopi Goldberg!
I agree with the other reviewers that the introductions by Whoopi Goldberg are completely unnecessary and a waste of space on the discs! Fortunately, as soon as she appears onscreen, I hit the "menu" button on the remote and go straight to the cartoons. Of course, the cartoons made during that time would be considered "politically incorrect" by today's standards, but that's why these cartoons are so popular with people is that they are politically incorrect. I only wished that Warner Brothers would give the Tom & Jerry, and the entire Tex Avery MGM cartoons the same treatment that they are giving the WB's. How about it WB?

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