The Looney Tunes
Show
2011-4
**********
Pros: Animation, Voice cast, Sporadically funny
Cons: Sporadically funny, Some character derailment, Arguably
a little too mundane
The Looney Tunes. These iconic characters peaked during Chuck
Jones’ stewardship and virtually every modernized adaption draws most of their
inspiration from his era. During my
youth it was Tiny Toon Adventures
(which I grew up with), and Baby Looney
Tunes (which I did not). Then there
was the regrettable Loonatics Unleashed. Of all the modernized interpretations I’ve
seen (I’ve never seen the seemingly faithful Duck Dodgers series), the best one is The Looney Tunes Show.
The Looney Tunes Show seeks to appeal to
a more grown-up audience and does so by domesticating the premise to the point
where it’s practically a furry Seinfeld
(not to be confused with a funny, but sadly-defunct twitter which imagines Seinfeld characters as actual furries). Bugs (Jeff Bergman) is like an
idealized Jerry, Daffy (Bergman) is like a sociopathic Kramer, Porky (Bob
Bergen) is like a more sympathetic George, and Lola (Kristen Wiig) is like an even
crazier version of Elaine. John O’Hurley
even stars as Lola’s father occasionally.
The jokes are far more mundane, and the cartoon logic is significantly
watered-down. It tries to depict Looney Tunes characters in the real
world. It emphasizes dry, quirky humor,
and in my opinion it has mixed success.
Usually the
cartoons with the best art and animation are the ones which are adaptations of
already popular franchises. This show’s
animation is expressive and looks for the most part like a classic western
cartoon. While stylized to distinguish
itself from the classic Looney Tunes,
the art style is still faithful enough.
A common criticism of the show is that its art style looks like the
typically oversimplified one that seems to be in vogue nowadays. I find this puzzling because I hate modern cartoon style, and this
looks perfectly fine to me. The
backgrounds also have nice, painterly look. My one problem with the animation is the lack
of caricatures. For example, one of the
weaker episodes features a character named “Starlet Johansson” with little effort
to actually make her look like the star.
Still, the advantage of this is that it helped the show be relatively
free of the pop-culture references that most of Warner Bros. cartoons of my
youth mistook for humor. There’s also
a refreshing attention to detail in some areas.
It’s very rare to see a western cartoon with a good style that depicts
guns and cars that are identifiable by model.
You don’t know what that means to me, people.
The
characters’ cars even reflect their personalities. Bugs is a smug, rich white guy, so he drives
a Prius. Porky is a loser so he drives a
beaten-up old Mercedes. Tina Russo
(Jennifer Esposito, then Annie Mumolo) is a tomboy who drives a muscle car. Daffy is a buffoonish narcissist
whose impractical ride certainly reflects that.
The voice
acting is very good, with the classic voices very well-imitated. While I generally prefer the use of voice
actors over celebrities, I really like Kristen Wiig as Lola Bunny, as she has a
distinctive voice which fits the character.
I say that with all due respect to the great Kath Soucie. Other voices include Grey DeLisle, Garry
Marshall, Cree Summer, Powers Boothe, Tara Strong, Kevin Michael Richardson,
John DiMaggio, and Dennis Farina.
The main
weakness of the show is that almost everybody is out of character. Bugs Bunny is supposed to be a heroic
trickster, but instead he’s a straight man.
Unfortunately, he’s way too idealized to be relatable enough to work as
one. He’s almost always right, and he’s
independently wealthy from inventing an infomercial product. A particularly annoying example of this is
the episode “Reunion,” in which Bugs reveals an insane list of accomplishments
despite never having gone to high school.
It’s times like these you get the impression that the writers think
they’re pulling off hyperbole, but it only reinforces his status as a Gary
Stu. His fascination with common life
experiences extends beyond high school; at one point he pretends to work at
Porky’s workplace as a sort of wage slave tourism, much to Porky’s frustration
and eventual firing. There are other
times in which Bugs acts the fool in more amusing ways, mostly when he’s acting
as the foil to his crazy on-again-off-again girlfriend Lola.
Daffy is
no better. Daffy Duck is a bitter
antagonist to Bugs, but this bitterness was always relatable; he was frustrated
by Bugs’ smugness as well as the latter’s stealing his spotlight. An appropriate mundane interpretation would
have him as a bitterly underemployed Millennial who did everything he was told
to do and instead finds himself in a thankless minimum wage job, rankling at
Bug’s sudden success (possibly with a love interest’s understanding his plight
and bringing out the best in him).
Instead he’s a complete and utter idiot, which is the source of some of
the show’s best and worst humor. He’s
frequently acting a foil to der Überhaße,
constantly reminding us of the latter’s often annoying superiority. One frustratingly unfunny running joke, which
the writers seem to absolutely adore,
is the “Daffy Hypocritically Judges Someone for Doing the Literal Exact Thing
He’s Doing at the Moment.” Often, he’s
so stupid it’s not even funny. One could
say that Daffy is a rare accurate depiction of a sociopath, as they are
generally not that intelligent in real life.
That interpretation conflicts with the many moments of unearned humanity
from him, particularly when his girlfriend, Tina is involved.
Also, while
it is amusing, I’m annoyed that, in a show that revolves around Daffy Duck and
Bugs Bunny, Daffy is the one who is
depicted as the chronic transvestite. It
makes one wonder if the writers had ever actually seen an episode of Looney
Tunes. They seem to realize this,
and a couple token scenarios depict Bugs cross-dressing almost as if an
afterthought.
One
character derailment I actually feel is an improvement is Lola Bunny. Originally conceived as bland furry
cheesecake masquerading as a strong role model, she’s reimagined as a
hilariously goofy ditz who contributes some of the show’s funnier moments. Besides, Tina fills that role of a strong
female with more balance. I like to
think one of the litmus tests for being undiscerning furry trash is which
version of Lola Bunny prefer, and heaven help you if you say “Space Jam.” Unfortunately Lola seems rather incompatible
with Bugs, which goes to show how desperate characters are to mate with their
own species in this show. It’s a bit
frustrating that Bugs and Daffy’s respective relationships with Lola and Tina
would make far more sense if they were actually in character.
There are
many other supporting characters who are more faithful. Porky Pig is Porky Pig, even though he has a
rather incongruous backstory as a formerly popular jock; Porky is far too nebbish
for this to work. Still he was also
depicted as having bullied Daffy at school, and the guilty he feels, as well as
Daffy’s tendency to abuse it, is a clever explanation for their classic
dynamic, which is mostly faithful in this show.
Foghorn Leghorn (Jeff Bergman) is true to his personality while being
interpreted as a millionaire who is bafflingly impressed by Daffy. Granny (June Foray) is also Granny, but the
show makes it so that she was a spy (Stephanie Courney) during World War
II. I don’t care who you are, that’s
awesome. Speedy Gonzales (Fred Armisen) is
a straight man, but clashes with the modernized setting by still dressing like
a stereotypical 19th Century mestizo. I will note however that the showrunners
apparently seemed to like the Goofy Gophers (Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell) a hell of a lot more than I do.
The
greatest victims of the show’s mundane nature are the villains. Yosemite Sam (Maurice MaMarche) is nothing
more than a loutish neighbor who only occasionally gets in mild conflicts with
Bugs. Marvin the Martian (Eric Bauza)
only occasionally mentions world destruction, but spends most of the time
hanging out with Bugs & Co. as a minor friend. Tasmanian Devil (Jim Cummings) is reduced to
Bugs and Daffy’s pet. Witch Lezah (Roz
Ryan) is an African-American neighbor, while Gossamer (Kwesi Boakye) is her
innocent young child (who naively idolized Daffy). Most egregiously, Elmer Fudd (Billy West),
arguably the prime villain of the franchise, is just a newscaster who occasionally
provides exposition and not even an antagonist the loosest possible
interpretation of the trope. The only
truly malicious character is Cecil Turtle (Jim Rash), who graduates from being
a trollish tech support agent to being a genuine villain.
The
down-to-earth nature of the show is both a strength and a liability. There are many ways in which the dialogue and
situations appeal to my dry, quirky sense of humor. This why I actually find it funnier than most
of the revival series I’ve seen in spite of 90’s nostalgia. Sometimes the mundane nature of the show has
comedic impact due to its contrast with the characters, like the time when Daffy and Foghorn Leghorn get in a rather gritty fistfight in the street. Sometimes it has more dramatic impact because
mortality is actually plausible for the characters. This can work when played well, but sometimes
it crosses the line when it gets too bitter, like when Daffy’s sociopathy
starts harming people in the “The Float.”
I also find it refreshing that the show is light on pop-cultural
references, as that is a pet peeve of mine.
Unfortunately, it’s inconsistently funny and peters out around the
middle of the second season. I would
have liked it more if they had taken advantage of the cartoonish medium to
combine the best of both worlds: A zany cartoon with modern real-life
concerns. A cartoon that does do a good
job of this is The Regular Show, but
I find it hard to get into because I hate its flat, modern art style.
The show also
features “Merry Melodies” segments, which are humorous music videos starring
the characters, and 3-D Wile E. Coyote cartoons that focus more on
slapstick. I never watched many of them,
but this one is pretty amusing.
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