Description:
Legendary animator and director Chuck Jones first began animating cartoons for Warner Brothers in the early 1930s. By 1939, Jones had become an integral part of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon-creation team with his animated shorts about Sniffles the mouse. The first disc in this two-disc, remastered Chuck Jones collection is devoted completely to Sniffles cartoons. The 1939 "Naughty but Mice" opens the compilation and introduces Sniffles the mouse as a cute little rodent with a very big head cold. Sniffles's trip to the drugstore yields some unexpected side effects from an alcohol-laden cold remedy, incl
Legendary animator and director Chuck Jones first began animating cartoons for Warner Brothers in the early 1930s. By 1939, Jones had become an integral part of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon-creation team with his animated shorts about Sniffles the mouse. The first disc in this two-disc, remastered Chuck Jones collection is devoted completely to Sniffles cartoons. The 1939 "Naughty but Mice" opens the compilation and introduces Sniffles the mouse as a cute little rodent with a very big head cold. Sniffles's trip to the drugstore yields some unexpected side effects from an alcohol-laden cold remedy, including a surprising friendship with an electric razor. This first Sniffles cartoon is a slow-paced short aimed at kids (though modern parents will question the appropriateness of the extended drunken mouse scene), and it's just as enjoyable today as it was in 1939. The pace speeds up, the gags get progressively funnier, and Sniffles becomes a real chatterbox as Jones's work evolves. Sniffles encounters everything from protective owls and their eggs to a silent little bookworm, the noisiest nature walk ever, a little chick who grows up to be a hawk, and, of course, a cat who would like nothing more than to eat that little mouse. Also included on disc one is a commentary on "Naughty but Mice" featuring Jerry Beck. The second disc opens with the 1943 cartoon "The Aristo-Cat," which showcases groundbreaking background art that is bright, abstract, and expressionistic, and stars a new mouse duo, Hubie and Bertie. Hubie and Bertie are two mice who are about as different from one another as two mice can be, but the one thing they do share is a particular tendency for finding trouble. In "The Aristo-Cat," the mouse duo is pitted against a spoiled cat who's scared of everything--including mice! The spoiled cat returns in later Hubie and Bertie cartoons as Claude Cat, whose nervous disposition and hypochondriac tendencies are the source of much comedy. There are just seven Hubie and Bertie animated shorts on the second disc, but there's plenty more to watch with 11 bonus Warner Brothers mouse cartoons, including "Country Mouse," "Little Blabbermouse," and "Merlin the Magic Mouse," as well as two commentary tracks for "The Aristo-Cat" (the first featuring Eddie Fitzgerald, and the second, Greg Ford). Additional commentaries include Ford on "Mouse Wreckers" and Beck on "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat." The "Of Mice and Men" featurette details the evolution of mice in cartoons, beginning with Disney's introduction of Mickey Mouse in 1928, as well as Jones's growth as a director. Finally, there's a storyboard reel for "The Hypo-Chondri-Cat." The picture certainly isn't perfect in these cartoons and the sound is low and at times dull and muffled, but one can't really complain considering the age of the source material. What is spectacular is that this Chuck Jones collection finally offers all the Sniffles cartoons on one DVD and really highlights Jones's development as an animator and director. --Tami Horiuchi
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Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Release date: 28 August 2012
EAN: 0883929247073 UPC: 883929247073
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