Product Description

The most famous animated characters and the stars who love them unite to celebrate Chuck Jones, the living legend of animation. Showcases all of your favorite characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote and more. Celebrity appearances by WHOOPI GOLDBERG, MATT GROENIG, RON HOWARD, JOHN LASSETER, LEONARD MALTIN, STEVEN SPIELBERG, ROBIN WILLIAMS and more! Year: 2000

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44868 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
There is more pure, unadulterated joy in just the opening montage of classic moments and characters from Chuck Jones cartoons than in most recent feature films. Jones is the best known of the Warner Bros. stable of legendary animators. He is certainly the most honored. After winning three Oscars, the Academy in 1996 bestowed upon him its Lifetime Achievement Award. With impeccable comic timing and design, Jones redefined "character animation," creating the definitive screen personas of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck. He also unleashed on the world the Road Runner and amorous skunk Pepe Le Pew. This documentary--all-too-brief at 85 minutes--contains a generous sampling of clips that span Jones's career, from his early "aggressively cute" Disneyesque cartoons ("Sniffles Takes a Trip") to the masterpieces ("Duck Amuck," "One Froggy Evening"--hailed here by no less than Steven Spielberg as "the Citizen Kane of animated shorts") to the post-Warners book adaptations, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the Oscar-winning "The Dot and the Line." But that's not all, folks. Jones reflects on his work and the method to his madness. There are also insightful appreciations by animators (Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Toy Story director John Lasseter), historians (Leonard Maltin), and some of Jones's biggest fans (Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams). This portrait of the man who would be Bugs (but who admits he is more akin to Daffy) was presented on the PBS series Great Performances, but perhaps American Masters would have been more fitting. "Chuck Jones is a given in our culture," Groening remarks. "You wake up in the morning and you know Bugs Bunny is out there doing something." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Cliff Notes on Chuck Jones' cartoons
This documentary is basically a 90 minute condensation of the work of Chuck Jones. Comprised of neat interviews, clips for cartoons, and photographs, this is a surprise for many.

The quality of the video is excellent... it's non-anamorphic 1.85:1, but it was made that way. Upconverting the image wouldn't result in more resolution. You see 100% of the resolution for the video parts. All cartoons are presented at 1.33:1, windowboxed within the 1.85:1 frame.

The extras include a 15-minute "tutorial" which is a facinating look at the process of animation. It seems to be an outtake from the documentary. There are pencil tests for How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Mississippi Hare, as well. That's not all! Two complete Jones cartoons are provided: Feed The Kitty and Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century. Both are in perfect condition, with gorgeous Technicolor color.

This is a must-own for any animation fan...

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.

An engaging portrait of a wry genius
I fell in love with Chuck Jones' work way back in the 60's when I was a student at MIT, where the adventures of Wile E. Coyote were followed avidly by the engineering students each week. The warped, surrealistic humor of the Road Runner epics were the perfect antidote to the daily grind of math and physics, and we always rooted for the coyote, even while knowing that he'd never catch and devour the road runner. There's a wonderful subversive quality to much of Jones' work, as this delightful documentary makes perfectly clear. It offers a nice mix of technical tidbits, commentary by admirers from Steven Spielberg to Matt Groening, and wry observations by Jones himself. If you've ever wanted to meet the man who gave us Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote, this is your chance!