Looney Tunes on HBO Max Review
Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020)
“Looney Tunes Cartoons” is a new series of Looney Tunes shorts made specifically for HBO Max. Intended to carry on the legacy of the Golden Age, the shorts have returned to seven minutes in length, a live orchestra has been hired to produce each soundtrack, and characters have been reverted to chaotic personalities.
The only season listed here shows ten episodes available to view. Each episode links to an eleven minute video containing two shorts. So 20 shorts in all are available to view at once (contrary to the rumor a handful would be released in weekly installments). This is not counting inbetween animations, which are roughly fifteen second gags bridging the shorts.
The art direction is the first notable thing about these cartoons in my eyes, it is a clear callback to the 1940s golden age. Going further in, one will find that every facet of this cartoon is a Animation is very good and the orchestration is fantastic, once again from a live orchestra. The writing on this show is storyboard driven, as it was in the original shorts, and allows room for visual gags and physical comedy. The writing evokes the characters original counterparts most convincingly out of anything I’ve seen this past decade. This is a difficult practice, and you can see every facet being done with admiration and enthusiasm.
I’m sure the voice acting helps with that as well, many voices are spot-on, and Eric Bauza’s Bugs Bunny is the closest to Mel Blanc’s I believe I’ve ever heard. Auditory gags, such as giving the cute animal characters a deep shouting voice, return to my great entertainment. Even what appear to be one-off human characters have distinct voices that seem straight out of a golden era cartoon. The amount of consideration, care, and quality in this show is extrodinary.
How Many Theatrical Shorts are Present?
There are 209 original Looney Tunes shorts are present (one not being theatrical the made-for-TV short Duck Dodgers in Attack of the Drones (2004)) The shorts are broken up over 31 seasons that vary in length from three to twelve episodes per season. Each season features shorts from differing years, although they are listed chronologically.
Season 1 starts with Foxy’s Smile Darn Ya Smile! (1932) and then skips to Hollywood Capers (1935). Interestingly, Smile is listed as episode 1, while Hollywood is listed as episode 4, perhaps implying that two more shorts will be released between them eventually. Each “season” listed has films numbered erratically like this, indication that we may see many more shorts in the future. The longest season lists its last short as “Episode 21″ which may indicate how long seasons can get in the future.
Broken down there are 17 shorts from the 1930s, 78 from the 1940s, 81 from the 1950s, 29 from the 1960s, and 4 from 1987-2004.
Are More Modern Television Series Present?
Some of them! All two seasons of the Looney Tunes Show (2011) are present, which I’m most excited about. Additionally, all five seasons of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (1995)
There are again, some hangups for me. No other LT TV shows are present besides those. Duck Dodgers (2003) is a TV show I would have been excited to see. Hell, I would have watched Loonatics Unleashed (2005) if I was paying for it.
For fans of the spinoff characters, no Tiny Toon content, Baby Looney Tunes (except for a direct-to-VHS mentioned later), or Animaniacs media is available, the latter coming as a surprise to me due to its upcoming reboot.
It seems however, that they are still adding contnet! There is an HBO Max trailer for Wabbit (2015) available on the service, yet the full series is not currently available. This post may be updated when more content gets released.
Are Movies and Specials present?
Not really, no. Which is a huge disappointment for me. The two big modern theatrical films are not present: Space Jam (1996) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) are unavailable to watch. I’m especially surprised about Space Jam, considering the sequel in the works.
Direct-to-VHS Baby Looney Tunes: Musical Adventures (2003) is present, however, if you are inclined to watch that.
To Support Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020) - 10/10 They deserve your support, please by all means.
To Watch Golden Age Cartoons - 7/10. I’m giving it a seven solely because this is the biggest collection of the classic shorts I have seen on streaming so far. This rating only reflects their current inventory of shorts.
Overall - 6/10. I’m still a little upset at the movies and TV series they are missing. I may have set my expectations too high, but for the high price point, I feel like there are some major gaps in HBO Max’s library. Again, this rating only reflects their current inventory of shorts.
HBO Max gives you a 7-day free trial before you have to start paying monthly. I may cancel during the free period of HBO Max after watching Looney Tunes Cartoons, and seeing some original shorts I haven’t yet. I would recommend doing this for anyone who wants to support the cartoons.
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
areudirty
pixelskylines
vaporwave
