Fwd: These reboots of cartoon classics are exceptional and delightful

Wed Jun 1 11:07:32 UTC 2022

Very, very Pynchon. As we know.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John McWhorter <nytdirect at nytimes.com>
Date: Tue, May 31, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Subject: These reboots of cartoon classics are exceptional and delightful
To: <mark.kohut at gmail.com>

They’re art.
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For subscribers May 31, 2022
Delcan and Co.
Looney Tunes and Disney delivered wit and joy in their updates on old
favorites
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By John McWhorter
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During these times so utterly glum, I’m in a mood to share a couple of
discoveries that have provided a bit of joy, which I hope will bring some
joy to you and, if you’re a parent, your kids as well. Two pandemic
delights, to be specific, which I’ve held on to as life gropes toward some
form of normalcy.

I’m a Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies fanatic and have been all my life.
There were about 1,000 shorts made from 1930 to 1964, I’ve seen almost all
of them and every facet of these cartoons keep me coming back.

The animation dazzles. Take a look at “Hare Trimmed
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/tD7MWgX8Qf8WQfkq902X8w~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TCaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltb3Rpb24uY29tL3ZpZGVvL3g4Nmt2Zm0_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDRXA255dEIKYoYhpZZidjX3JFIUbWFyay5rb2h1dEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAA~>,”
from 1953, to see the way the animator Virgil Ross made Bugs Bunny act like
an exaggerated aristocratic Frenchman as he challenges Yosemite Sam
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/_B3hqHa-RC07WoyDLr0eEA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TaaHR0cHM6Ly90cmFsZmF6LmJsb2dzcG90LmNvbS8yMDIxLzA5L2NoYWxsZW5naW5nLXNhbS10by1kdWVsLmh0bWw_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDRXA255dEIKYoYhpZZidjX3JFIUbWFyay5rb2h1dEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAA~>,
complete with haughty facial expression, gloved fingers in just the right
pose and a turn of the body gesticulated perfectly in character. This isn’t
just a talking rabbit; this is art.

And on the voices, Mel Blanc was a genius performer: Watch the end of “Tortoise
Wins By a Hare
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/rsU32UUzDUWrjS-4S8uNeA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TCaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltb3Rpb24uY29tL3ZpZGVvL3g2dmp4dzU_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDRXA255dEIKYoYhpZZidjX3JFIUbWFyay5rb2h1dEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAA~>,”
from 1943, when Bugs is on the verge of winning his race against his
nemesis Cecil Turtle, first proclaiming victory in almost hysterical
ecstasy as he sprints down the homestretch, then sobbing and screaming with
frustration as a dopey band of rabbit thugs, hoodwinked by Cecil, prevent
Bugs from crossing the finish line. It’s not just voice-over, it’s
superlative comic acting.

And, ah, the music. Almost anyone from a certain generation will recall
Elmer Fudd’s epic “Kill the wabbit!
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/JMlBHz4qf6jKWPa73Dfw6w~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj1LWlRFOU1Eb2FMc1cDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>”
refrain in “What’s Opera, Doc?” from 1957. But equally memorable, and for
decades running through hundreds of shorts, was Carl Stalling’s background
music. Along with Milt Franklyn, who arranged the instrumentation for many
of Stalling’s scores, he created magic again and again, as he did in “Tick
Tock Tuckered
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/uG5I9jgR0uMKyJ7efp2qtA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj1CZHNvSy1lVTBpY1cDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>,”
from 1944 (a remake of “Porky’s Bedtime Story” from 1937), wherein a sleepy
Porky Pig does battle with a pesky window shade. It’s a sequence
accompanied and pointed up by a creamy rendition of “By the Light of the
Silvery Moon,” complete with a suave and lovely key change. It’s not just
background toodling, but art.

Given how crazy I am about the vintage shorts, I’ve been especially
delighted by a 21st- century reboot, “The Looney Tunes Show.” It ran from
2011 to 2013 and some critics were unenthusiastic: Writing for Variety,
Brian Lowry described the series as a “miscalculation
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/6ybSPNDVO8TfWqCE40G81g~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TeaHR0cHM6Ly92YXJpZXR5LmNvbS8yMDExL3R2L3Jldmlld3MvdGhlLWxvb25leS10dW5lcy1zaG93LTExMTc5NDUxNDQvP2NhbXBhaWduX2lkPTIyOSZlbWM9ZWRpdF9qbV8yMDIyMDUzMSZpbnN0YW5jZV9pZD02Mjg0NiZubD1qb2huLW1jd2hvcnRlciZyZWdpX2lkPTY1NTI3MjE4JnNlZ21lbnRfaWQ9OTM4NDcmdGU9MSZ1c2VyX2lkPTZiNzYxNmU2YjAzMDhiNDg4Mjk0NjM5Y2EyOWQ3ZmQ0VwNueXRCCmKGIaWWYnY19yRSFG1hcmsua29odXRAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAA>.”
Because of that lukewarm reception and getting busier as a parent of young
kids, I never got around to it until the pandemic, when I decided my girls
and I would watch all of the episodes as a kind of lockdown project.

The show situated the beloved Looney Tunes characters within a half-hour
sitcom format, with comedy-of-manners plots à la “Friends” or “Seinfeld.”
There have been other efforts since: “New Looney Tunes,” starting in 2015,
and a new run of Looney Tunes shorts that premiered in 2019, but “The
Looney Tunes Show” is, at least to my mind, a perfect rendition of Looney
Tunes for today.

Looney Tunes were the wittiest of the classic cartoons of their era, and
today the television sitcom has taken up that essence. So it’s exactly
right that Daffy Duck becomes a kind of George Costanza — that’s what he
always was, really. And it makes sense that Lola Bunny from the original
“Space Jam” movie is reimagined as a character reminiscent of Lisa Kudrow’s
Phoebe. The TV Lola is a tour-de-force,
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/fUYQ6mCQYkZqMc06EaIxAA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0T0aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzdGxlLmNvbS9lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50L2xvbGEtYnVubnktc3BhY2UtamFtLXplbmRheWEta3Jpc3Rlbi13aWlnLWJlc3QtdmVyc2lvbj9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD0yMjkmZW1jPWVkaXRfam1fMjAyMjA1MzEmaW5zdGFuY2VfaWQ9NjI4NDYmbmw9am9obi1tY3dob3J0ZXImcmVnaV9pZD02NTUyNzIxOCZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTkzODQ3JnRlPTEmdXNlcl9pZD02Yjc2MTZlNmIwMzA4YjQ4ODI5NDYzOWNhMjlkN2ZkNFcDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>
voiced by the “Saturday Night Live” veteran Kristen Wiig, who justly earned
a Behind the Voice acting award for her work on “The Looney Tunes Show.”
Lola’s father, Walter Bunny, is voiced by John O’Hurley — who played the
absurdly grandiose J. Peterman — making the “Seinfeld” parallel seem
deliberate.

Elsewhere, “The Looney Tunes Show” has fun details: The famous big red
monster with sneakers that Bugs Bunny encounters in “Hair-Raising Hare
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/gI8qX4jozovsAxxoc7kFRg~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TCaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltb3Rpb24uY29tL3ZpZGVvL3g2Z3U5dGw_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDRXA255dEIKYoYhpZZidjX3JFIUbWFyay5rb2h1dEBnbWFpbC5jb21YBAAAAAA~>,”
from 1946, becomes a gentle adolescent, whose mother is somehow the
original Looney Tunes character, Witch Hazel, except now she’s Witch Lezah
(get it?) and voiced by a Black actress, Roz Ryan. Yosemite Sam is aware
that he has anger issues. The show doesn’t come all the way out and say it,
but it’s easy to surmise that the Goofy Gophers, Mac and Tosh, are now
intended as a gay couple. Plus, you get a music video in each episode, and
the songs are actually good. The show is an unsung gem, and as a sample
episode, I recommend “Double Date.”

By now you’ve probably guessed that I rank Warner Bros. cartoons as the
all-time best. But lately, I’ve thought that they might have some
competition: The shorts Disney has been making since 2013. My girls and I
call them “Funny Mickeys,” in contrast to Disney’s old shorts, which are
expertly animated but, especially by contemporary standards, not
narratively engaging. An isolated drawing from “Mr. Duck Steps Out
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/zFkTvSa3g85xdVfhwuvHBg~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TBaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHltb3Rpb24uY29tL3ZpZGVvL3h5bzJ3NT9jYW1wYWlnbl9pZD0yMjkmZW1jPWVkaXRfam1fMjAyMjA1MzEmaW5zdGFuY2VfaWQ9NjI4NDYmbmw9am9obi1tY3dob3J0ZXImcmVnaV9pZD02NTUyNzIxOCZzZWdtZW50X2lkPTkzODQ3JnRlPTEmdXNlcl9pZD02Yjc2MTZlNmIwMzA4YjQ4ODI5NDYzOWNhMjlkN2ZkNFcDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>,”
for example, hangs on my wall at home and is a nice image of Donald Duck
adjusting his hat in preparation for a date. But the cartoon itself, from
1940, just sits there — the liveliest thing is that Donald and Daisy Duck
do some dancing. In the newer Disney cartoons, the characters are as
laugh-out-loud funny as the Looney Tunes characters have been all along.

The artwork is great, too: The updated Disney characters are drawn in a
style saluting the original late-1920s, early-1930s versions of the
characters, while the backgrounds are gorgeous paintings reminiscent of the
ones in Disney classics like “Sleeping Beauty.” But now, the Disney
characters have a chance to engage in the same lively wordplay as the
Looney Tunes characters, with nearly as much wit. Chris Diamantopoulos is
especially good voicing Mickey, wangling the mouse’s classic falsetto into
colors and shades that somehow convey a whole soul rather than just a
squeaking, two-dimensional protagonist.

The Funny Mickeys come with a modern ethos, eschewing the old-school
stereotypes found in earlier cartoons. When one of these new shorts is set
in a different country, instead of wallowing in silly false-translation
jokes, as the old Looney Tunes did (French people fleeing Pepé Le Pew,
yelling “Le Pew!”), the characters speak the local language — French,
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Mandarin, Korean, Turkish and Hindi,
so far. In “Mumbai Madness
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/KgzSNfESgCMOgR9LQAHTlQ~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj1kbE1SZWVCVE5PSVcDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>,”
the series’ composer, Christopher Willis, wrote Bollywood-esque music.

Another great thing about these newer shorts is that they revel in the
weight of the 20th century’s trove of pop culture references: They mine the
Disney heritage itself, from the Disney version of “The Big Bad Wolf” to
Ursula from “The Little Mermaid.” In one short, Mickey and Minnie cavort to
a 1930’s-style love song, “As Long as I’m With You
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/UVPwQQhnh_bMaVinzkLeLQ~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj05aElYZEZ5MzNwNFcDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>,”
camping it up rather than just doing it straight. Another takes on the
quaint ambition of a “Jetsons”-like
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/8znPv2aTusYRSelcS6bNkw~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj1kYmRZQmtrNVBOc1cDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>
vision of the future.

Willis, whose work is brilliant, seems to have a fondness, where
thematically appropriate, for the teasing soft-rock feel of 1970s and 1980s
shows such as “The Love Boat” (try, for example, the nautical scenes
from “Captain
Donald
<https://nl.nytimes.com/f/a/uhSH6Yzd4W9ePlE6AobXQA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRkeSohP0TEaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_Y2FtcGFpZ25faWQ9MjI5JmVtYz1lZGl0X2ptXzIwMjIwNTMxJmluc3RhbmNlX2lkPTYyODQ2Jm5sPWpvaG4tbWN3aG9ydGVyJnJlZ2lfaWQ9NjU1MjcyMTgmc2VnbWVudF9pZD05Mzg0NyZ0ZT0xJnVzZXJfaWQ9NmI3NjE2ZTZiMDMwOGI0ODgyOTQ2MzljYTI5ZDdmZDQmdj1Eal93TElfbWFjOFcDbnl0QgpihiGllmJ2NfckUhRtYXJrLmtvaHV0QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAAA~~>”).
Between this, the facial expressions that often seem to channel the weird,
densely detailed close-ups of cartoons from the Fleischer studio that
created Betty Boop and Popeye, and the whiz-bang pacing familiar from “Ren
& Stimpy,” these shorts exist in a kind of otherworldly combination of now
and before, the way a good cartoon should.

I’ve been forced to rethink my own sense of what belongs on “Best Of”
lists: I remain a Looney Tunes loyalist, but the new Disney shorts strike
me, often, as some of the best cartoons I’ve ever encountered. They helped
me through the pandemic lockdown, are great for taking a load off the mind
now, and should be known better than they seem to be.

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