While on the subject of Road Runner, and our pal Thad K's April Fool post about Rudy Larriva's cheap post-1964 cartoon efforts, Here's a great later Chuck Jones Road Runner cartoon that doesn't get near the recognition it ought to. "Lickety Splat" (1961) has never been released to DVD, and I'm not sure if it even made VHS, come to think of it. No April Fool here, folks. I won't give anything away, but it has a hysterical ending.
3 comments:
This is a great, underrated short that's never been released on home video in the United States. There are a few choice Road Runner cartoons from this period, including "Zoom at the Top" and Oscar nominee "Beep Prepared," that are sadly missing from DVD.
What I like about this cartoon is how the pacing progresses. In the last couple of scenes even the traditional "full screen explosion smoke" is eschewed for just a quick on-screen blast to move the action along quicker.
Actually, i have Lickety Splat on a VHS which was a one-year promotion for collecting every VHS including a Christmas Bumper Special (I only got Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner)
This cartoon seemed to get a heck of a lot of play on CN. I feel like I've seen this more times than I can count. I'm honestly surprised this one isn't on a Golden Collection yet.
You know though...there is one thing about these later Jones cartoons that bug me. It's the character's bodies stretching and remaining on camera whenever they fall or run off camera. I know it's a cartoon and all but these kind of things work better visually when a character's body moves a little more naturally. This bothers me the most in Jones' Tom and Jerry cartoons, probably because Tom and Jerry never really moved like that.
Post a Comment