The Best Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons
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- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancThe short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.Generally speaking, I prefer the unhinged, sprite-like Daffy to the jealous, self-centered Daffy of later years—but this is a brilliant cartoon concept that I can't imagine working with ANY other character. Even Daffy wants to push Daffy around. The jerk just has it coming to him.
- DirectorRobert ClampettStarsMel BlancAfter reading a Dick Tracy comic, Daffy Duck has a surreal dream in which he is a P.I. pursuing an army of grotesque villains who stole every piggy bank in town, including his own.Visually imaginative, hilarious, and moves along at such a breakneck pace that you almost don't notice how weird it all is. This is everything I love about Warner Bros. cartoons.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancThe sheet music for Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube" is constructed by moving musical symbols. A baton-toting conductor note tries to direct his fellow notes in performing this musical piece, but finds that one of the notes has become drunk after being inside the sheet music for "Little Brown Jug". The drunken note staggers goofily on the staves for the music of "The Blue Danube" and is chased by the conductor.Seeing this cartoon at a young age was one of the experiences that led me to develop an interest in music. It's a delightful little fantasy and a better educational cartoon than most cartoons that were INTENDED to be educational.
- DirectorRobert ClampettFriz FrelengStarsMel BlancRobert ClampettPorky ventures into Darkest Africa in search of the last Do-Do bird, and winds up in Wackyland, a surreal place where the sun comes up atop a human pyramid, the Warner Brothers shield comes zooming from the sky, and populated by creatures such as a three-headed Larry Moe and Curly beast. The Do-Do finally appears, to great fanfare, and eludes Porky by pulling out a pencil and drawing himself a door.I don't know if it's controversial to prefer this over the original Porky in Wackyland, but color really suits a cartoon this vibrant and bizarre.
- DirectorChuck JonesMaurice NobleStarsMel BlancIn this very abstract cartoon, a hard-of-hearing old Britisher finds a red horn and uses it as a megaphone, unaware that it is really a lost horn from the Devil's forehead. The Britisher finds that the horn has the effect of amplifying every sound psychedelically and causing him serious bodily harm.The decline of Warner Bros. animation in the '60s was so precipitous that the abstract WB titles and dissonant Bill Lava theme are practically an announcement that you are about to see a bad cartoon. Now Hear This is one of the few exceptions to that rule, and it's probably the most deeply weird cartoon Chuck Jones ever made. I hope my eventual children find it as fascinating as I did.
- DirectorRobert ClampettArthur DavisStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanElmer Fudd walks out of a typical Bugs cartoon, so Bugs gets back at him by disturbing Elmer's sleep using "nightmare paint."Bugs Bunny already debuted with the perfect chase cartoon, but it's amazing what a thick coat of Bob Clampett's nightmare paint can do.
- DirectorRobert ClampettStarsMel BlancBea BenaderetSara BernerAs the literary characters come to life in a bookstore at night, Daffy Duck sings and dances before being chased by the Big Bad Wolf.They did this same basic cartoon at least a couple of times before, but perfected it with the addition of Daffy Duck and an almost overbearing level of Clampett wackiness.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsPaul JulianWile E. Coyote unsuccessfully chases the Road Runner using such contrivances as a rifle, a steel plate, a dynamite stick on an extending metal pulley, a painting of a collapsed bridge (which the Coyote falls into while Road Runner passes right through), and a jet motor.Kind of cheating here as this is sort of a collective vote for the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoons, and there are too many inspired gags spread over too many cartoons for me to really pick a clear favorite. But I do have a favorite moment, and it's Wile E.'s smug/blissful expression as he flies along in his batman costume, seconds before smashing into a cliff face.
- 19429mApproved7.1 (1.8K)ShortDirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancBea BenaderetJohn McLeishThree fun-loving, morally upright brothers from Pimento University save their fiancée from their fiendish archenemy, Dan Backslide, in this spoof of the Rover Boys.I don't agree that this is Chuck Jones' FIRST great cartoon, but it is definitely among his greatest. One of those rare parodies that is completely hilarious even when you don't know a single thing about the subject of the parody.
- DirectorTex AveryStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanWhile hunting rabbits, Elmer Fudd comes across Bugs Bunny, who tricks and harasses the hunter.The definitive Bugs Bunny cartoon and Tex Avery's masterpiece. Considering how much this has in common with the style of later WB cartoons, and that there are later released cartoons where Bugs and Elmer's personality and appearance are LESS similar to their "final" versions, it almost seems like this cartoon came out of nowhere. Be sure to watch this with the restored color if you haven't already—it actually wasn't SUPPOSED to look autumnal.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanElmer Fudd is again hunting rabbits - only this time it's an opera. Wagner's Siegfried with Elmer as the titular hero and Bugs as Brunnhilde. They sing, they dance, they eat the scenery.I think part of my motivation for writing this list was to not have this in the top 10—it just never resonated with me the way it seems to have with most critics. But when you consider the distinguishing characteristics of a great Warner Bros. cartoon (irreverent character-based humor, bizarreness, musicality, pop culture parody), there's not much else truly deserving of being called the quintessential Warner Bros. cartoon. It's absolutely a great cartoon, but I just think they made some better stuff.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsBea BenaderetMel BlancA bulldog, charmed by a kitten, tries to keep her hidden from his human guardian.John Cleese is one of the only comedians who can make me crack up with nothing more than a facial expression. I hope it's not too strained a comparison to say Feed the Kitty has the cartoon bulldog equivalent of that.
- DirectorFriz FrelengStarsMel BlancBea BenaderetBilly BletcherBugs, the Wolf and bobby-soxer Red chase each other around while Grandma is off working at Lockheed aircraft.Goodness knows why this didn't make the top 20 in my first draft of this list. It's easily both one of the best WB fairy tale parodies and Bugs Bunny cartoons, and it has what I believe is the first appearance of the famous door gag. Hilarious, and just a little bit cruel.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancStan FrebergAfter invading a cheese factory, mice Hubie and Bertie have finally had their fill of cheese and figure there's nothing more left to live for. They plan to end it all by surrendering to Claude Cat, who becomes decidedly suspicious.Hubie & Bertie were among my favorite WB characters as a child, but it proved harder than I anticipated to justify a spot for them on this list. Mouse Wreckers would have qualified if the ending didn't fall a bit flat. Here in their last starring appearance, you again have Hubie & Bertie trying to exploit Claude the cat's neuroses—except nothing goes as planned, and everything spirals hilariously out of control. A real classic.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancArthur Q. BryanA sleepy man demands total quiet from hotel manager Elmer Fudd, but bellhop Daffy's noisy antics keep prompting the exasperated guest to sock Elmer in the face.Features what has to be my favorite musical cue in cartoon history.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsWilliam RobertsA man futilely struggles to make his fortune with a frog that sings and dances, but only when it is alone with the owner.Out of all of Warner Bros.' iconic characters, there was only one who didn't require more than one cartoon to become iconic.
- DirectorFriz FrelengBuilders construct a building to the tune of Franz Liszt's "Second Hungarian Rhapsody".The best of several great cartoons which made Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 an iconic piece of cartoon music.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsMel BlancBea BenaderetSara BernerPorky Pig's egg farm faces production problems when a crooning rooster distracts the hens from their jobs.I feel like this cartoon deserves a longwinded, overly serious analysis of why Bing Crosby but not Frank Sinatra is associated with fertility. Really, really funny and it doesn't make a bit of sense.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancDaffy attempts to convince Porky, as Friar Tuck, that he really is Robin Hood.Rather than directly antagonizing Daffy like Bugs does, Porky stands back and allows him to be his own worst enemy. And to me, that's just funnier.
- DirectorRobert ClampettStarsMel BlancRobert ClampettBugs encounters wartime sabotage and takes to the air to do battle.Bugs Bunny could be a really fun character when he didn't have the upper hand, and it's surprising there were almost no cartoons like this after the character's earliest days. One of the few WW2-related Warner Bros. cartoons that has aged well.
- DirectorTex AveryStarsMel BlancRobert C. BruceBernice HansenA series of typical Avery spot gags set around wild animals. A dainty deer drinks very loudly and rudely from a lake. A pack rat swaps an egg and an acorn, then back again ("monotonous, isn't it?"). A flock of ducks lands; a hunter fires; all fly away, except one with an American flag on its side. A termite fells a huge tree. A cowboy rides across the plains well, no; his horse is just slapping itself with the front hooves. A coyote calls to its mate: "Hey, Mabel, come on out!" A camel contradicts the narrator, saying he's really thirsty. A wild dog: because of the lumbermen.Again, cheating here as this is a collective vote for the Tex Avery documentary parodies. He perfected these at MGM with cartoons like The Car of Tomorrow, but he made quite a few great ones with Warner Bros., and I always, always looked forward to these when watching cartoons as a child. As for why Wacky Wildlife in particular? I dunno, that sloppily-drinking deer just cracks me up.
- DirectorFriz FrelengStarsMel BlancLeon SchlesingerHenry BinderDaffy Duck tries to usurp Porky Pig's job through devious means in this wild blend of live action and animation.Totally delightful live action/animation experiment.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancDick BealsBea BenaderetIn his first of two Warner Bros. cartoons, schoolboy Ralph Phillips daydreams in class, the lessons inspiring his fantasy heroics, such as being a pony-express rider, a deep-sea diver, a boxing champion and even General Douglas MacArthur.I have no idea if this cartoon was an influence on Bill Watterson or not, but it's easy to see the impish, hopelessly imaginative Ralph as a prototype of Calvin. This isn't quite as timeless as Jones' later High Note, but it's another great cartoon that finds the magic in the mundane.
- DirectorRobert McKimsonStarsMel BlancStan FrebergJohn T. SmithWhile vacationing in the Ozark Mountains, Bugs Bunny encounters Curt and Pumpkinhead Martin, two dimwitted hillbillies who are duped by Bugs into a violent square dance.In which Bugs Bunny torments a couple of dumb hillbillies because they're there, with the highlight being the unforgettable hilariously violent square-dance sequence. After I moved to the Ozarks, I only appreciated this cartoon more.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancPorky Pig doesn't realize that the old hotel where he and Sylvester are spending the night is really part of a ghost town. It's only Sylvester who sees the band of murderous mice trying to do them in, while Porky chalks his fears up to insanity.Just a fun little spooky old house cartoon, and the best cartoon featuring the silent, scaredy-cat version of Sylvester. Daffy Duck's Quackbusters was one of those videos I rewatched endlessly as a small child, and this was the biggest reason why.