The cartoon fan could hardly go wrong with this set.
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What a simple but brilliant idea: WB own the rights to a multitude of great old cartoons from their own studios and others, so why not put together a package of what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thought were the very best? The "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection" includes fifteen Oscar winners for Best Short Subject, Cartoons, and twenty-six more Oscar nominees, all of them newly restored from the original masters, and all of them presented on three separate discs. It's great fun.
There is far too much material here to describe it all, so let me go through the fifteen winners contained on disc one and then list the titles of the other twenty-six nominees.
"The Milky Way" (1940) has Rudolf Ising directing for MGM. Here we find the three little kittens who have lost their mittens sailing off to the Milky Way and encountering some colorful celestial bodies along the way. It's cute if a bit more juvenile than some of the other entries.
"The Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943) is a William Hanna-Joseph Barbera "Tom and Jerry" production for MGM, the first of many such Oscar winners for both pairs. Who'da thunk? "Yankee Doodle" has the cat and mouse doing their patriotic duty for their country on the home front.
"Mouse Trouble" (1944) is another Hanna-Barbera production for MGM, and again it's Tom and Jerry winning the day. It's also one of the funnier outings for the duo and made me laugh out loud on several occasions.
"Quiet Please!" (1945) made it look like Hanna and Barbera had a lock on Oscar winners for MGM, at least during the War years. In this one, Jerry the mouse finds an ally in a big, tough house dog, which slows down Tom the cat quite a bit. Any number of good slapstick gags abound.
"The Cat Concerto" (1946) has Hanna and Barbera and their Tom and Jerry creations at it yet again for MGM. Here, Tom is a concert pianist about to perform the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 for a rapt audience. What he doesn't know is that Jerry is asleep inside the piano, and the chaos begins. It was cartoons like this one that inspired my own lifelong love for classical music. Later, you would find variations on the theme played out by Bugs and Daffy and a similar tribute sequence in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
"Tweety Pie" (1947) finally came as a change of pace, with Friz Freleng (uncredited) directing for Warner Bros. "I taut I taw a puddy tat." Sylvester was not yet Sylvester but "Thomas" back in those days; otherwise, it's another laugh-out-loud gem with the canary and the cat.
"The Little Orphan" (1948) has Hanna and Barbera returning to the spotlight with yet another Tom and Jerry production for MGM. This time out, it's Thanksgiving and Jerry is taking care of an orphan, a kid who's always hungry.
"For Scent-imental Reasons" (1949) brought a much-deserved Oscar to Chuck Jones and Warner Bros. for their smelly, amorous creation Pepe LePew. It's all about the skunk in a perfume shop falling for a black-and-white cat sent in to get him.
"So Much for So Little" (1949) looked like Chuck Jones might take over from Hanna and Barbera in the Oscar department for Warner Bros., winning this time for Best Documentary Short Subject. WB produced the cartoon for the Federal Security Agency Public Health Services. It's pretty heavy-handed, but it makes its point to immunize, clean up, eat properly, exercise, and get your checkups.
"The Two Mouseketers" (1951) found Hanna and Barbera back in the driver's seat with this Tom and Jerry winner for MGM. It's a historical epic with some of the best art work in the collection.
"Johann Mouse" (1952) saw Hanna and Barbera firmly back in control for MGM, with Tom and Jerry in a tribute to waltz king Johann Strauss. The setting is Vienna, with Jerry as a waltzing mouse in the great composer's home, and Jerry as always the frustrated cat.
"Speedy Gonzales" (1955) found director Friz Freleng and Warner Bros. again getting the nod. Warners preface these discs with a disclaimer saying that some of the cartoons contain racial stereotypes and prejudices common to their era. You might want to include Speedy the Mexican mouse among these.
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