'Roadrunner a Go Go' is like 'Fastest with the Mostest', also viewed for the first time recently. It is not one of the classics, in a series of cartoons that are mostly really enjoyable with the best ones being brilliant, but it is nowhere among one of the duds like the mid to late 60s cartoons.
The use of stock footage coupled with its mockumentary style could have come across as pointless if executed wrong, and could have been cheaply done, but actually it is very well done and clever. The mockumentary scenes presented by Coyote display brilliantly Coyote's intelligence and cunning wit in finding solutions to his many errors (which are just as well done as the errors), and even though he is not doing any physical comedy in these scenes he is still very funny and who cannot help root for him.
'Roadrunner a Go Go's' sight gags are not the most hilarious of the series, with the cliff gag while still very funny being smelt a mile off, or the most visually imaginative. They are still very well-animated and are never less than highly amusing. The dialogue is sharp and witty, displaying Coyote's interesting personality very well indeed. Mel Blanc, yes this is one of the few instances where Coyote talks (the others being his highly entertaining cartoons with none other than Bugs Bunny), does typically wonderfully with the characterisation and it is some of his most subtle voice work.
Here the animation is bright and colourful as well as fluidly drawn while adopting a sketchier drawing style than what was seen before. The backgrounds avoid being sparse and are far from lifeless, while Chuck Jones' animation style is all over it and instantly recognisable. Milt Franklyn's music is rhythmically lively and is beautifully orchestrated, also doing well to fit with the action without quite enhancing it as effortlessly as Carl Stalling. But at least it fits, never jars stylistically and never sounds cheap, unlike Bill Lava's scoring for the Rudy Larriva-directed cartoons. The song is remarkably catchy and not milked to death or irritating, the choral voices are nicely blended too.
Only Roadrunner is not as impressive as the rest of the cartoon, still amusing but essentially he is a plot device, doesn't have an awful lot to do and his material is not as interesting as Coyote, who feels much more of a main character.
All in all, while not quite a classic, all the ingredients are there, and a cartoon that could have easily been unnecessary and pointless is executed really cleverly. A surprisingly impressive 9/10. Bethany Cox
