Scrambled Aches

The tenth pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, features the ever frustrated, but never quiting coyote still trying to catch the very elusive bird using such ingenious schemes as fan powered roller skates, a pebble which turns into a boulder with water, and the old reliable combination of boulders, rockets, anvils, and balloons. I found it highly enjoyable, but perhaps I'm a bit biased as Wile E. Coyote is one of my absolute favorite cartoon personalities of all time. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. This cartoon also has an optional music only track.

My Grade: A

They don't waste any time here as the opening scene is in the middle another chase as The Road Runner (Tastyus Supersonicus) stays ahead of Wile E. Coyote (Eternali Famishis) who meets his first "demise" when he takes a wrong turn and disappears under the "Danger: Bridge Out" sign. He climbs out of the hole he made many feet below, discards his bib, knife and fork and goes back to work thinking of other ways to catch his prey.

At first, the coyote uses old-fashioned non-expensive methods such as simply tripping him, or a lasso with some TNT or cheap rollers skates with a sail and a fan tied to his torso. Later, he employs his standard boulder, anvil, springs, etc. Actually this was best of the anvil gags I've seen and the "dehydrated boulders" was something new and extremely clever.

Finally, he gets to the expensive "Acme" purchases, this time a "junior steam roller" with an outboard motor, which is pretty funny.

Overall, it was the routine story, but entertaining, and part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Two DVD set. I still laugh at the idea of a "dehydrated" boulder!

This is a perfect example of Road runner at the height of his career. Every joke has an unexpected twist or two and there is a natural progression in Wile E. Coyote's traps. At first the Coyote tries to stop the Runner in his tracks by tripping him up or felling him with a dynamite bolo. When that fails he does his best to match the speed of his prey, by combining roller skates with a sail and propeller, riding a giant firecracker or using a wall mounted spring.

A brief word about the backgrounds. They are simple but very stylized. The artists deliberately neglected to colour between the lines of the purple rocks and just about every pebble and cactus is left unpainted, making them appear translucent. W. E. and double R. on the other hand are perfectly animated. Even in a couple of filler scenes where we see Coyote getting inspiration for another trap, his expressions are priceless.

Obviously getting more and more frustrated, the Coyote becomes intent on destroying his nemesis regardless how much will be left over to eat. Therefore he tries boulder flipping, anvil dropping and best of all makes use of Acme dehydrated boulders (just add water). Finally, his genius level intellect entices him to combine sly deception with brute force. An elaborate double trap uses both the junior size outboard steamroller and a cannon disguised as an escape tunnel. But just like Tom Cruise can use an exploding helicopter to his advantage in Mission Impossible, so can Road runner use a cannon ball as a means of escape.

8 out of 10

They aren't kidding when they call this cartoon "Scrambled Aches"! The most original gag here, at least in my opinion, is the dehydrated boulder (and you know what happens during combinations of Wile E. Coyote and boulders!). As a previous reviewer noted, a notable aspect of this cartoon is that the backgrounds have an almost mystical feel to themselves. Of course, there's no reason to get all hung up on that when you can luxuriate in WEC getting his just desserts for trying to harm Road Runner. If ever I'm driving through the southwest United States, I'll just keep my eye out in case there is a coyote chasing a road runner; maybe I'll witness the sorts of things that these cartoons portray.

All in all, another classic cartoon.

Admittedly the story is formulaic, but that can be said for all the Roadrunner/Wile E Coyote cartoons. You could go as far to call the series a "formula" series. Scrambled Aches for me was one of the best of the series as well as one of the funniest. Scrambled Aches is one of the better-looking Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons, the stylised backgrounds do not look cheap at all, the characters look good especially Coyote with his facial expressions and the colours are appealingly warm. The music is energetic and characterful as usual, and the orchestration is clever and beautiful, enhancing the action rather than slowing it down. Scrambled Aches is well-paced and while you do know the outcome of the gags the gags are still really funny, and this is of the non-stop hilarity kind. Especially good were those of dehydrated boulders, steam-roller and the escape hatch. The rocket and rope/dynamite gags are quite familiar but were still funny and not rushed or drawn out. Roadrunner is good, but Coyote has always been the much more compelling character and he doesn't disappoint. Have always loved his sly but frustrated facial expressions and his effortlessly funny and cunning personality, because all the bad stuff happens to him and he is the character that provides the laughs essentially you do feel pangs of sympathy for Coyote as well. In conclusion, those who enjoy the Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons should have no problem having fun with Scrambled Aches. As someone who generally enjoys the series, although there were a few duds in the later years, I do consider Scrambled Aches is a definite standout. 10/10 Bethany Cox