'Looney Tunes Cartoons' Is a Worthwhile Reboot

If I had to list down the moments in my life where I laughed so hard that I had to gasp for breath, among them would be the times when I watched TV re-runs of the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons as a kid in the 90’s.  As a result, although these shorts were originally theatrically released, I consider Looney Tunes as one of my most favorite animated TV series of all time.

Even as an adult, I find those 1930-1969 Looney Tunes shorts extremely amusing, albeit no longer as gut-busting hilarious as I did when I was a kid.  Still, I prefer those old cartoons over the attempts of Warner Bros. to update Looney Tunes in the 21^st century.  I never got into them.  It’s probably because most of them tried too much to be different, contemporary, and inoffensive that they lost the “looney” appeal.  New Looney Tunes was the closest to recapturing the original’s magic, but it didn’t quite get there – it still felt “safe.”

The most recent attempt, however, legitimately feels like the property returning back to form.  Called Looney Tunes Cartoons, it succeeds in nailing the “looney” factor.  I had a blast watching it.  The debut season only consists of 10 episodes, each one running at 12-13 minutes (1-6 minutes per segment), so it was easy to go through in one sitting.

It adopts the original formula, as certain tropes, storytelling beats, and music from the original are utilized.  This sometimes results to the gags and even segments feeling derivative.  On the other hand, there are also times where it plays with fans’ awareness of these elements to pull off something cleverly subversive.  Either way, the impeccable execution of the property’s familiar brand of slapstick, reality-bending physics, and comedic timing evokes much delight.  I genuinely laughed a lot.

However, while it’s more daring than previous modern incarnations, there are also some indications that it’s tip-toeing in the current politically correct climate.  For example, rather than completing the phrase, “Of course, you realize this means war,” he instead goes, “Of course, you realize this means… you know”, and this comes off as pathetic and bland.  But, at least, as far as the visual presentation in general is concerned, I didn’t notice any self-censorship.  The cartoon mayhem and violence it presents are about the same as before.

Overall, Looney Tunes Cartoons is quite promising.  It feels nostalgic yet modernized enough.  Most importantly, it’s genuinely funny.

Hopefully, future episodes would simply double down, and wouldn’t succumb to playing it safe.  It also would be nice if there would be some unconventional (but true to the Looney Tunes spirit) segments, like a crossover between Wile E. Coyote and Ralph Wolf.