"The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" is a good example of the compliation film. It's one of those films that are a kind of Whitman's sampler that serves as a good introduction to a wide variety of short subjects. While it is true that these shorts are better seen in their original form, why trash these neat features? At least the Warners compliations are seamlessly edited and the bridging material is often above average.
It helps to know that this film was originally released as "The Great American Chase". In fact, that title is STILL in the film. It is in the opening 20 minute prologue that is engaging and original but irrelevant since the title was changed. Adults will forgive it, but from my own experiences (when I first saw the film 16 years ago on tape), kids will get restless.
But after that, we get to the good stuff. The film is a sampler of Chuck Jones' work, hence the title "Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie". Road Runner was Jones' creation as was Pepe Le Pew (both are featured in the film, but the Road Runner gets the bulk of the second half) and Jones reinvented Bugs Bunny in the 50s and 60s from his previous incarnations. There are many good shorts included in the film. Daffy Duck's battle with the animator and his brush. Bugs Bunny vs. Wile E. Coyote: Genius. Classic Road Runner/Wile E. footage. Bugs fights Marvin the Martian on Mars. I can't list them all, but you get the idea.
Most critics dislike these films because they cut the original shorts. But most of these shorts are edited by Cartoon Network for TV (for time and more recently, racial comments)and precious few are available on video. So we should be grateful that at least there is one way we can at least see these shorts in some format (very little is actually edited, most of the shorts are intact) We can see a lot worse these days.
**** out of 4 stars
