Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, Vol. 2

It's a 24-carrot gem of a collection. All 60 toons are restored, remastered, uncut. Greetings, Looneytics! For all who rightly place Looney Tunes alongside Mom, apple pie and web-surfing at work as American institutions, this is your time to rise and shine and watch. And each disc is chock-a-block with bonus goodies. The happiness of pursuit is center stage in Disc 2 and 3's respective batches of Road Runner and Sylvester/Tweety fun. Anything less would be dethpicable. Yes, here on 4 discs you'll find 60 more of the finest, funniest, bestest Golden Era cartoons from the feverishly bent artistic minds at Termite Terrace. Disc 4 is an all-star cavalcade of Hollywood parodies and more. Disc 1 showcases a certain wascally wabbit.

More than two-thirds of the films are by Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones. Brash, fast-paced, and hysterically funny, the Warner Brothers cartoons rank among the undisputed treasures of American animation and American comedy. "Rabbit Fire" and "Rabbit Seasoning" appear on the first set, but the third cartoon in Jones's trilogy, "Duck! "Show Biz Bugs," "Bugs Bunny Rides Again," and the Oscar-winning "Tweety Pie" showcase Freleng's razor-sharp timing. (Rated G, suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon There are only eight cartoons by Clampett in the set, plus three by Tex Avery and one by Frank Tashlin. This second collection, a follow-up to Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, includes such gems as "Porky in Wackyland," "A Bear for Punishment," "Gee Whiz-z-z," The Great Piggy Bank Robbery," and "I Love to Singa." A short documentary about director Bob Clampett features several cartoon historians, animator Eric Goldberg, Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont, and Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (enthusiastic but over the top). That's not necessarily a bad thing. But Warners continues its scattergun approach to selecting films. Rabbit! Duck!" isn't on either. "What's Opera, Doc," "The Dover Boys," and the justly celebrated "One Froggy Evening" rank among Jones's boldest experiments and most brilliant successes.

Volume Two includes some genuine rarities, among them, "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" (1930), the first Looney Tune, and the Oscar-winning documentary "So Much for So Little." With 60-plus cartoons, transferred from good prints Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, Volume 2 is a collection to treasure.