Customer Reviews

Looney Tunes Super Stars: Bugs Bunny Hare Extraordinaire

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

Warner has done something here that they never did with the Golden Collection DVDs, they CROPPED the picture of the 1954+ cartoons to make them look widescreen. The animators at Warner Brothers NEVER animated for wide screen until the 1980 revival. There are jokes missing because they are in the upper or lower portions of the picture which are not there now. Maybe these were shown at the theaters this way, but I want to see them the way the animators intended us to see them.

I have already contacted the powers that be at Warner Home Video to request a re-call and issue a proper un-cropped DVD of these classic cartoons.

This would have NEVER happened in the Golden Collection sets. Someone who does not know better must be in charge now!

This will be the LAST Looney Tunes DVD that I buy if this is going to be the new standard. Keep the old un-cropped Laserdiscs, a TRAVESTY has been committed here!

1-800-553-6937 is the Warner Home Video customer service number.

The only reason that I will not be buying "Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinaire," and the only reason for my 1-star rating, is because someone at Warner Bros decided to use matting to cover up the tops and bottoms of most of the cartoons on this DVD.

For example, in the original version of "Napoleon Bunny-Part," Bugs Bunny walks under a doorway with a curved sign on top which says "Le Grande Ball Room." But on this DVD, the only part of the sign that can be seen is "Le Gra."

Warner Bros claims that their reason for doing this is because that's what the artists originally intended. I very much doubt this claim. Why would they draw a sign if they never intended for anyone to be able to read it? Furthermore, none of the cartoons on the six Looney Tunes Golden Collections are matted, and no one ever complained about the fact that those cartoons weren't matted.

I bought all six Golden Collections. But I will not be buying "Hare Extraordinaire."

All cartoons on this volume are new to DVD, and none have previously been released as part of the Golden Collection sets. There are no bonus features. This volume contains a diverse mix of Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 1950's and 1960's, including the final classic Bugs cartoon, False Hare (notable for a Foghorn Leghorn cameo at the end). List of cartoons (and year of release) follows.

1. Apes of Wrath (1959)
2. Bedevilled Rabbit (1957)
3. Bushy Hare (1950)
4. Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (1964)
5. False Hare (1964)
6. Foxy by Proxy (1952)
7. From Hare to Heir (1960)
8. Hare Trimmed (1953)
9. Hare We Go (1951)
10. Lighter than Hare (1960)
11. Lumber Jack-Rabbit (1954)
12. Mad as a Mars Hare (1963)
13. The Million Hare (1963)
14. Mutiny on the Bunny (1950)
15. Napoleon Bunny-part (1956)

When I learned about the cropping issue, I planned to stay away from this set, as well as the Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl set. But because my son was expecting to see them, I bought them, anyway. We watched a bunch of them Saturday and all I can say is that the cropped picture on some of the cartoons looks lousy. It's ridiculous.

It's so ridiculous that, on some of the cartoons, you can't even see all of the information of the credits. And why Warner Bros. decided to crop "Lumber Jack-Rabbit" is beyond me. This cartoon obviously was not designed for a widescreen picture. For the opening credits, Warner had to use the 4:3 format to ensure all of the credit information was there. When the cartoon started, however, it transformed to widescreen and you could tell there was a lot of information missing from the picture.

Most of the widescreen cartoons in both sets are a mess. Tops of heads are missing, snippets of animation are gone, etc.

I'm extremely disappointed with this set. I know there are many people out there who will say this doesn't matter, but to some people it matters greatly. There was NO REASON to do this. NONE.

I will not buy any future Looney Tunes releases if this is how these cartoons are going to be treated. If somebody wants to watch these cartoons in widescreen, they could easily set their televisions to stretch-o-matic format or zoom in the picture. The way it is now, if somebody wants to see the full animated image, no such choice is available.

Whoever was behind the decision to do this is an absolute maroon. Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd aren't even that stupid.

Somebody removed the top & bottom of the picture. This makes me sad, because I like the top & bottom of the picture. I am returning this defective product for a refund. I will not purchase future Looney Tunes products if they are topless and/or bottomless.

For those of you who are unhappy with the fake widescreen format on the cartoons, here is a customer service number for Warner Home Entertainment. This is a voice mail set up specifically for consumer feedback on their DVD product:

818-977-6065

Be polite yet firm. Make sure to suggest the idea of a disc replacement program.

As said before most of the cartoons of this set are cropped and tampered with. The top and bottom of the shorts have been cut to adapt them to widescreen format. This makes them unwatchable as bits of the action and animation are missing, the image looks cropped and you keep concentrating on the missing parts. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE viewing. Plus I must say the image restauration doesn't look as pristine as the Golden collection series.

What is more unsettling is that Warner Bros keeps doing this all over again, tampering with content (censorship, cropping...) showing no respect at all for intellectual property but most of all no respect whatsoever for the customer. It is disgusting.

Sadly I can't recommend the buying of this product and its sister : the Daffy Duck superstar. The viewing is really uncomfortable, and the fan and collector is not respected by Warner. The product is not worth the money it cost.

It is NOT ok that Warner Bros. cropped the top and bottom off these cartoons. These are selling like hotcakes, and if Warner Bros gets away with it on this set (and the Daffy Duck set) they will do it on all future releases. Do not buy this DVD!

I was really looking forward to this DVD, and the companion Daffy Duck one. All new to DVD cartoons, remasterd, looking great, and furthering the goal of getting the complete LT/MM library in my collection.

But, there is a serious flaw with this, and the Daffy Duck disc. The aspect ratio is screwed up. The first few cartoons are just find, presented in a proper "pillar box" format on a wide screen TV. But then, at the end of Lumber Jack Rabbit, the cartoons are suddenly full screen, cropping the top and bottom of the image. At first I thought I had a defective disc, but when both this and the Daffy disc showed the same problem, it suggested to me that WB has screwed up on the mastering of these discs. And yes, it is a formatting error with the disc. If you play the disc on an older 4:3 TV, the ones that are stretched on the wide screen sets are squished inward on the older style ones. This is really sad becuase these are excellent cartoons, but I refuse to pay good money for a defective product. I'll be returning my copies for a refund. :(

I agree with the other reviewers lamenting the lack of pre-1950 cartoons. However, as none of these cartoons have appeared on previous collections, I think it's good that at the very least, WB isn't asking us to buy the same thing again. And again! (Look! Finally! A collection WITHOUT "Baton Bunny!" That's cause for celebration right there!)

That said, some things I'm looking forward to about this collection:

1) Yosemite Sam and Tasmanian Devil are all over this collection. All of the pre-1950 YS cartoons are on previous collections, and Taz didn't come along until the mid-50's. I, for one, am thankful to have all of them in one collection. ("From Hare to Heir" is the one where Sam has to be nice or forfeit 1,000,000 pounds; tell me you don't giggle remembering Sam crashing down the stairs in the knight-suit after taking a swing at Bugs!)

2) Some of those later-era cartoons may be funnier than you remember. "The Million Hare" from 1963 is the one with Bugs and Daffy racing to the TV studio to win a million bucks. ("I wonder if that silly duck will remember he can fly?" {{{CRASH}}} "Guess not.") "Lighter than Hare" is the one where Sam is a space alien.

(All of that said, I recognize that this has the potential to be another case of "Wow, that wasn't as funny as I remember it." This is what keeps me from giving it five stars. For now.)

3) "Bushy Hare." Has that been on any collection EVER? DVD or VHS?

All I know is I'm eagerly awaiting August 10, when I can hopefully add the fifth star! Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a series of discs showcasing characters or eras or themes that haven't been touched on in previous issues.