Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Two

Continuing the herculean task of restoring their classic animated shorts (which number well into the hundreds), Warner Home Video has released another 60 of their cartoons on DVD in a second go-round that includes still more of their classics mixed with a few obscurities. How can you not smile knowing that the classic "What's Opera Doc?" is included here with its ever-memorable mantra of "Kill da wabbit" that remains imbedded in the head of anyone over the age of thirty who watched Saturday morning cartoons with any regularity.

The Wagner-by-way-of-Chuck-Jones-and-Carl-Stalling short also gets the most lavish amount of extras, including alternate audio tracks, a short behind the scenes documentary, and dual commentary tracks. Another popular short that was conspicuously absent from the last collection, Chuck Jones' "One Froggy Evening" (which now has the dubious distinction of providing the WB network with its logo) is also included here with an isolated music track, a commentary track, and a making-of-documentary.

Some lesser-known shorts that may provoke the reaction of "I remember this one ..." are "I Love to Sing-a" ("about the moon-a, and the June-a, and the spring-a"), "Katnip Kollege," and "The Hep Cat". But fans for whom this set really delivers are admirers of The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. The lion's share of the third disc is devoted to their acme-products-inspired chaos. Tweety and Sylvester get a similiar piece of the pie on the second disc. Between this set and the first volume, fans of Warners' animated classics have more than enough of the greatest hits of their childhood to pass on to their own kids.

The majority of the shorts on each disc have some kind of extra feature, such as a commentary or isolated score track, and each disc has at least one featurette that tries to explain the appeal of the character featured on the disc. But listening to animation historians ruminate on the importance of these characters is beside the point. It's all about the toons, man, and the quality of the animation, which Warners' restoration team does an excellent job of showcasing.

The feature that most clearly illustrates the downfall of Warners' animation, however, is a television special included on the first disc, a 50th anniversary Bugs Bunny special from the 80s. The bored, "where's my paycheck" look of celebrities ranging from David Bowie, Penny Marshall and Jeremy Irons, combined with the sad-sack, rushed animation of the newer Bugs appearances is a marked contrast to the zip and zing found in the shorts and even the TV show credit sequences included in the set. Do yourself a favor and skip this bit. There are more than enough cartoons to keep you occupied and you will want the half-hour of your life back that this takes up. It's like preferring to remember that lively, funny, favorite uncle of yours as he was, rather than thinking of the scary-looking lifeless figure in the funeral home casket. -- Christopher Hyatt