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Rating:  - A much needed tribute
I saw "Chuck Jones: Extremes and in-betweens" when it premiered on PBS's Great Performances, and I am truly grateful that it is now available on DVD. This is a stellar piece of documentary film-making and should be viewed by every Chuck Jones fan. In fact I would wager that every true Chuck Jones fan would like to have MADE this film, what a fun project it must have been. The DVD has some wonderful extras includng an enlightening featurette on Jones's "Tricks of the trade." Yet as much as I love this DVD as a whole, I do have one very large complaint. In the special features section, the DVD offers some "Bonus Cartoons" They are: Duck Dodgers in the twenty-forth amd a half century" and "Feed the Kitty" While these are classic Jones cartoons the fact remains that virtually everyone has already seen them. I am also nearly positive that Duck Dodgers has found it's way into at least one of the looney tunes compilations available on video. This is probably true of "Feed the Kitty" as well although I didn't recognise the title. A DVD such as this seeks to showcase Jones as the visionary he was, this endeavor demands that Jones's lesser known works be liberated from obscerity. To which cartoons am I referring? One in particular would be the little known sequel to "One Froggy Evening "Another Froggy evening. For those who are not familiar with "One Froggy evening" it is the 1955 classic featuring Michigan J. Frog. "Another Froggy Evening" debuted as part of "Fest of the Best" a theatrically released retrospective of the best Looney Tunes. This was sponsored by the now non-existant Warner Brothers Studio Stores, I believe it only ran a week. What better place to resurrect this lost cartoon than on a DVD honoring the life's work of it's creator?
Rating:  - A must for film-majors and for all grown up children
This DVD is a must for all film majors and any one else interested in the art of animation! Not to mention Sociologists. In fact, any one who recalls with fondness those hours spent in movie houses or before a TV screen watching Jones' cartoons.
Being of the age I am, I grew up watching Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck fighting the Axis all through World War II, and I was as influenced by their antics as much as a German child would be by the tales of Grimm. After all, how many real life heroes did we have? Joe DiMaggio and General MacArthur? (In fact, how many today? That is why we spend so much on Batman, Spiderman, and Indiana Jones films.)
Now among the greatest of the animated cartoon series was that of Merry Melodies and Looney Tunes, and possibly the greatest animator of them all was Chuck Jones, the inventor of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew, the Coyote and the Road Runner, and others that still make children (and grownup children) laugh with delight. Having missed the PBS special a few weeks ago, I was very happy to receive the DVD recording of "Chuck Jones: Extremes & In-Betweens, A Life in Animation." With an 85 minute running time, this disc gives us the highlights of and insights into the genius called Jones.
Copious scenes from the cartoons are shown and analyzed, both from a technical point of view and as an extension of Jones' personality. From the talking heads of such notables as Robin Williams, Woopi Goldberg, Leonard Maltin, and Steven Spielberg, we get their impressions of what made these cartoons truly funny. But more important are the technicians and artists who actually worked at Warner Brothers back then, with whom we explore the major cartoon characters as well as such aspects of cartoon-making as animation, backgrounds, timing and dialogue, and background music.
Among the "special features" is about a half hour of what seems to be out-takes from the feature film, providing a very informative handbook for would-be animators. There is also a bonus of two complete Jones classics, "Feed the Kitty" and "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century."
And, yes, you will enjoy this immensely regardless of your major.
Rating: - LOVE IT!
A great look back on the career of Chuck Jones. Also has fabulous clips from the Looney Tunes.
Rating: - goodbye my friend
Did I know Chuck personally no, but I did know him from watching his toons early Saturday morning, yes I did. I knew his style and knew that he was one of kind, I saw the life that he breathed in to ink and it made my cry, it made me happy, but most of them just made me laugh myself to being the first two. Goodbye Chuck, and enjoy the inkwell in the sky, I'll be there someday and I hope that you have some good looney toons waiting for me.
Hunter D
Rating: - Chuck_Rockz!
Buy this,CJ fans. It contains clips spannin'through his entire carrier with the WB.It contains clips from the 30s(One Froggy Evenin',The Wild Hare)to like the wild 80s(Duck Dogers and the Return of the 24 and a Half Century,The Duxorist,Soup or Stone),Yosmite Sam cartoons(Whos Youre Man,Whoswho),Bugs Bunny cartoons(When We Were Young,Whats Opera,Doc),Daffy Duck cartoons(The Case of the Missin' Piggy Bank,Panchos Hideaway),Book adaptions(How The Grinch Stole Christmas),Interviews with fans(Jose Aranzo,Whoppi Goldburg)and more.So if your'e a fan of Chuck Jones fan,then this for you.
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