Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
'Ghost Wanted' is an early effort for legendary animator/animation director Chuck Jones, and while he went on to much better things later it is still a very well done cartoon. His style would become wittier and more refined later, the pacing later on became livelier and the characters had more interesting personalities. For early on though, he still acquits himself very well, saying that he did better later is not a knock against him but more stating a preference. 'Ghost Wanted' is slight and the little ghost character may be a little too cutesy for some, to me he just about managed to avoid being overly-so.
The atmosphere however has a real spookiness and while there is never anything hilarious the cartoon is fun. The other ghost character is the more interesting one and marvellously voiced by none other than another legendary animation genius Tex Avery.
It is no surprise that the animation is very good, being rich in colour and detail and the character design are 24-carat Jones. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).
On the whole, spooky and fun if not one of Jones' best. 8/10 Bethany Cox
