How do
you even describe the riches behind "Academy Awards
Animated Collection"? As an animation geek, and a
film geek who follow the Oscars, this is such an
immaculate and extraordinary DVD set with some of
the best animated shorts ever produced. From "Knighty
Knight Bus," to "Superman," this has some of the
best animated shorts ever concocted, and it brings
together all nominated shorts, and winners from
Warner Bros. with three entire discs. In the discs
there are some utterly fantastic attached and
optional commentary from Paul Dini who explores
Superman, animation historians who discuss Popeye
Meets Sinbad the Sailor. A bonafide favorite of
mine, "Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor" has some of
the funniest bits ever put on animated cel for the
Popeye series, and there's just a top notch roster
of animated titles. "Touche, Pussycat!" enlists Tom
and Jerry and his nephew who engage in three
musketeers mishaps as Jerry must train an up and
coming young musketeer who wants to battle and is
having a lot of trouble learning the rules of the
musketeers. The constant battles with Tom are
hilarious, and Jerry's nephew was never cuter. There's just too much
here for me to harp on. As an animation buff it's
sensory overload with Easter eggs and special
features that kept me sitting in front of my
television for hours. I'd re-hear some of the
commentary and switch back and forth between my
favorites to last choices, and always went back to
my favorites.
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My favorite is "Superman" which is just the Fleischers in their full glory with a valiant
Superman, a bothersome Lois, a mad scientist and
his buzzard. And to this day, the animation is
still utterly amazing. Above and beyond the best
animation of its time, and just outright
incredible, there's no real words to describe
it. And on the same wavelength much of the humor
used during the Tex Avery toons and Bugs Bunny
toons still present that same edgy and rather
suggestive humor that will leave you longing for
a time of better animation and stories aimed for
all audiences. One of the funnier episodes
called "One Droopy Knight" involves Droopy going
to fight a dragon to win over the lovely princes
of his kingdom, and for pure laughs you needn't
look any further. The special features beyond
the excellent commentary with historians and
fans is "Drawn for Glory," a tale about the
various contenders here for the Oscars, and a
bonus short, the absolutely hysterical "What's
Cookin'
Doc?" where Bugs campaigns for a Best Actor
Oscar that sadly goes to James Cagney. In one of
the best moments in the Warner Animation
library, Bugs intends to place a reel of his
best work and accidentally puts on a stag film.
You can't get this from anywhere but those nuts
at Termite Terrace! This is just an outright
incredible DVD set for anyone into animated
shorts, or just anxious to learn more about
history of Warner Bros. and Oscar. I had a blast
with this and I suggest any collector pick it
up.-
Felix Vasquez Jr.
3/5/08 |
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