World Famous Comics: Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation
Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation
Starring: Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, Joe Dante, Glen Keane, Robin Williams Directed By: Chuck Jones, Margaret Selby Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Live, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 22, 2002 Running Time: 85 minutes Theatrical Release Date: July 25, 1953
Description: The most famous animated characters and the stars who love them unite to celebrate Chuck Jones, the living legend of animation. Showcases all of your favorite characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote and more. Celebrity appearances by WHOOPI GOLDBERG, MATT GROENIG, RON HOWARD, JOHN LASSETER, LEONARD MALTIN, STEVEN SPIELBERG, ROBIN WILLIAMS and more! Year: 2000
Amazon.com: There is more pure, unadulterated joy in just the opening montage of classic moments and characters from Chuck Jones cartoons than in most recent feature films. Jones is the best known of the Warner Bros. stable of legendary animators. He is certainly the most honored. After winning three Oscars, the Academy in 1996 bestowed upon him its Lifetime Achievement Award. With impeccable comic timing and design, Jones redefined "character animation," creating the definitive screen personas of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck. He also unleashed on the world the Road Runner and amorous skunk Pepe Le Pew. This documentary--all-too-brief at 85 minutes--contains a generous sampling of clips that span Jones's career, from his early "aggressively cute" Disneyesque cartoons ("Sniffles Takes a Trip") to the masterpieces ("Duck Amuck," "One Froggy Evening"--hailed here by no less than Steven Spielberg as "the Citizen Kane of animated shorts") to the post-Warners book adaptations, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the Oscar-winning "The Dot and the Line." But that's not all, folks. Jones reflects on his work and the method to his madness. There are also insightful appreciations by animators (Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Toy Story director John Lasseter), historians (Leonard Maltin), and some of Jones's biggest fans (Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams). This portrait of the man who would be Bugs (but who admits he is more akin to Daffy) was presented on the PBS series Great Performances, but perhaps American Masters would have been more fitting. "Chuck Jones is a given in our culture," Groening remarks. "You wake up in the morning and you know Bugs Bunny is out there doing something." --Donald Liebenson
Chuck Jones Deserves More Chuck Jones is an amazing director, but unfortunately this documentary is more a "celebration" of Jones--the kind of thing you might see at an awards show, only longer and more repetitive--than an in-depth look at his life or work. This DVD isn't worthless. You do get a couple of great cartoons and some mildly-interesting pencil tests. But your time and money would be better spent with Jones' own book (Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist) or with the cartoons themselves.
Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation Peering inside the head of master animator Jones and revisiting sequences from some of his most famous shorts is half the fun of watching Selby's up-close-and-personal documentary. The rest comes from listening to what latter-day animators and comedians like Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg have to say about his influence on their own work, and hearing Leonard Maltin articulate what made Jones's cartoons funnier and more brilliant than anyone else's. Seeing the evolution in his style, from the cutesy Disneyfied knockoffs of his early career to his later triumphs with Road Runner and horny skunk Pepe Le Pew, is worth the price of admission alone. Plus, who can resist the array of rare, marvelously madcap clips?
Tribute to a master Great DVD, specially if youre into animation. Is really nice to see him talk about his work beacuse hes one of the greatest. Its also cool to watch the new animation masters like Glenn Keane and John Lasseter talking about the inspiration that Chuck Jones was for everyone...
Warner Brothers marketing of Chuck's Image(s) in one DVD A definite "scrapvideo" for MOST Loony Tunes followers,"Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation" left me a taste of respect and motivation to Mr. Jones career through animation, fused with emptyness and frustration in some pointless interviews with Whoopy Golberg, Robin Williams, Matt Groening and Steven Spielberg (nothing outstanding, relevant, or even worth for the narrative context in this DVD).
Initially, the DVD structure looks quite ambitious through 21 of its 22 titles but, while watching the whole thing I got more and more convinced that most of the chapters were just too "light" to make a "one-of-a-kind" anything. That goes even to special features like the rush version of "Chuck Jones Tutorial: tricks of the cartoon trade" quite poorly edited and commented by some animators except Mr. Jones.
More like a Video Catalogue of Mr. Jones work at Warner Brothers, "Chuck Jones - Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation", pulls down Mr. Jones potential and appeal to a 90 minute commercial about shorts found in DVD collections and stories or books written by or about Mr. Jones (and...guess what? They are all for sale separately).
I also missed the complete versions of "High note" and "The Dot and the Line" (Even if this last one was done with MGM).
100 % pure inspiration! Woow, what can I say? It is all about Chuck Jones!
Very inspiring DVD with a great interview and some commentaries from famous people. This stuff is totally inspiring for animators!
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