Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2 Blu-ray Review
More “Looney Tunes” for your viewing pleasure.
Much like 1, Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume 2 is being re-released on Blu-ray after being out-of-print for years. Also like its predecessor, this volume contains 50 theatrical animated shorts that are as follows: “A Wild Hare,” “Buckaroo Bugs,” “Buccaneer Bunny,” “Ali Baba Bunny,” “Show Biz Bugs,” “The Wise Quacking Duck,” “What Makes Daffy Duck?,” “Book Revue,” “Deduce, You Say,” “Porky In Wackyland,” ‘You Ought To Be In Pictures,” “Porky In Egypt,” “Back Alley Oproar,” “Little Red Rodent Hood,” “Canned Feud,” “Gift Wrapped,” “Birdy And The Beast,” “Home, Tweet Home,” “Gong! Gong! Gosh!,” “Zipping Along,” “Scent-Imental Romeo,” “The Foghorn Leghorn,” “The High And The Flighty,” “Tabasco Road,” “Mexicali Schmoes,” “Wabbit Twouble,” “Rabbit Fire,” “Rabbit Seasoning,” “Duck! Rabbit, Duck!,” ‘Drip-Along Daffy,” “My Little Duckaroo,” “Barbary-Coast Bunny,” “Tortoise Beats Hare,” “Tortoise Wins By A Hare,” ‘Rabbit Transit,” “Porky’s Hare Hunt,” “Hare-Um Scare-Um,” “Prest-O Change-O,” “Elmer’s Candid Camera,” “Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid,” “The Bashful Buzzard,” “The Lion’s Busy,” “Strife With Father,” “An Itch In Time,” “A Horsefly Fleas,” “Hollywood Steps Out,” “Page Miss Glory,” “Rocket-Bye Baby,” “Russian Rhapsody,” and “Dough Ray Me-Ow.”
It’s no secret that Platinum Collection Volume 1 features most of the very best “Looney Tunes” shorts there is, but that doesn’t mean Volume 2 doesn’t have its highlights. This particular collection is heavy on Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck shorts including some real gems. First and foremost, The Hunting Trilogy is here which features “Rabbit Fire,” “Rabbit Seasoning,” and “Duck! Rabbit, Duck!” “Rabbit Fire” in particular is the quintessential Bugs, Daffy and Fudd short in which the “rabbit season, duck season” feud takes place.
Elsewhere in this set, there’s “Tortoise Wins By A Hare” in which Bugs Bunny challenges Cecil Tortoise to another race, the wild and creative “Porky In Wackyland” (with Porky searching for the “rare” Do-Do Bird in a very strange land), and my personal favorite on this set “You Ought To Be In Pictures.” ‘Pictures’ finds Daffy convincing Porky to go into the movie business, but it doesn’t go too well. This short is notable for its impressive blend of live action and animation (especially for 1940). Of course, these are just my favorites. You may very well have your own. The set is stacked with entertainment value and good old fashioned cartoons. ‘Nuff said.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How do the shorts look? The B&W and color cartoons feature visible defects to be sure but they have still been beautifully restored nonetheless.
Audio Track: Dolby Digital 1.0. How do the shorts sound? The lack of lossless tracks is frustrating. Maybe one day we’ll get a new release with a DTS track. Until then, the DD track is adequate.
Extras (Note: A booklet is listed but is not contained in this set):
* Music-only tracks for “Ali Baba Bunny,” “The High And The Flighty,” “Tabasco Road,” “Mexicali Schmoes,” “Rabbit Fire,” “Rabbit Seasoning,” “Drip-Along Daffy,” “Barbary-Coast Bunny,” and music and effects tracks for “Scent-Imental Romeo,” “Duck! Rabbit, Duck!”
* Commentary tracks by Greg Ford “(A Wild Hare,” “Ali Baba Bunny,” “Show Biz Bugs,” “Back Alley Oproar,” “Scent-Imental Romeo,” “The High And The Flighty,” and “Hollywood Steps Out”), Michael Barrier and Bob Clampett (“Buckaroo Bugs” and “Wabbit Twouble”), John Kricfalusi, Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio (“Buckaroo Bugs”), Michael Barrier (“Long-Haired Hare,” “Book Revue,” “Porky In Wackyland,” “Rabbit Seasoning,” “Drip-Along Daffy,” “Tortoise Beats Hare,” and “Bugs Bunny Gets The Boid”), Constantine Nasr (“Deduce, You Say” and “Rocket-Bye Baby”), Jerry Beck (“You Ought To Be In Pictures,” “Canned Feud,” “Tabasco Road,” “Mexicali Schmoes,” “Porky’s Hare Hunt,” “Elmer’s Candid Camera,” and “Dough Ray-Me Ow”), Mark Kausler (“Porky In Egypt,” “Birdy And The Beast,” “Tortoise Wins By A Hare,” and “Russian Rhapsody”), Mark Barrier and Robert McKimson (“The Foghorn Leghorn”), Greg Ford and Chuck Jones (“Rabbit Fire”), Eric Goldberg (“Duck! Rabbit, Duck!”), Chuck Jones (“Tortoise Beats Hare”), Paul Dini (“The Bashful Buzzard”), John Kricfalusi and Bill Melendez (“An Itch In Time”), and Will Friedwald (“Page Miss Glory”).
* 12 featurettes- “Man From Wackyland: The Art Of Bob Clampett,” “Leon Schlesinger: The Merrie Cartoon Mogul” (about the producer), “Bosko, Buddy And The Best Of Black And White” (which covers the 30’s sound cartoons), “A Hunting We Will Go: Chuck Jones’ Wabbit Season Twilogy,” “Looney Tunes Goes Hollywood,” “Looney Tunes Goes To War!,” “Forever Befuddled” (about Elmer Fudd), “Real American Zero: The Adventures Of Private Snafu” (about the war cartoons), “King-Size Comedy: Tex Avery And The Looney Tunes Revolution,” “Tex Avery: King Of Comedy,” “Fritz On Film,” and “Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons.”
* “A Conversation With Tex Avery”
* “The Best Of The Rest Of Tex”- 11 Tex Avery toons including “The Blitz Wolf,” “Red Hot Riding Hood,” “Screwball Squirrel,” “Swing Shift Cinderella,” “King-Size Canary,” “Bad Luck Blackie,” “Senor Droopy,” “Wags To Riches,” “Symphony In Slang,” “Magical Maestro,” and “Rock-A-Bye Bear.” These bonus cartoons are the crown jewel of the extras. The Wolf cartoons are as good as anything on the set.
* “The World Of Leon Schlesinger”- 6 additional cartoons/shorts titled “Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid,” “Sinkin’ In The Bathtub,” “Crying For The Carolines,” “It’s Got Me Again,” “Haunted Gold Title Sequence,” and “Schlesinger Productions Christmas Party.” An intro by Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck is also included.
* “Fritz At MGM”- 5 cartoon shorts- “Poultry Pirates,” “A Day At The Beach,” “The Captain’s Christmas,” “Seal Skinners,” and “Mama’s New Hat.”
* “Private Snafu”- 8 shorts- “Coming!! Snafu,” “Gripes,” “Spies,” “The Goldbrick,” “The Home Front,” “Rumors,” “Snafuperman,” and “Censored.”
* “Mr. Hook”- 3 shorts- “The Good Egg,” “The Return Of Mr. Hook,” and “Tokyo Woes.”
No comments yet.
Share This Blog
Robert Ham
dmanderson
Andrea
nicklyons1
DVD Corner 
Leave a comment