Chuck Jones Movies
A cel washer for Ub Iwerks at Celebrity Pictures, Chuck Jones joined the Warner Bros. animation unit in 1933, and after writing and animating numerous cartoons, became a director of the Merrie Melodies series in 1938 with The Night Watchman. Over the next two decades he established himself as perhaps America's greatest maker of cartoons -- a master at creating slapstick comedy who also had a special fondness for sudden moments of sophisticated repartee or subtle character expression.Working regularly with writer Michael Maltese, Jones brought new heights to Warners' greatest characters, particularly Daffy Duck (The Scarlet Pumpernickel, Duck Dodgers In The 24-1/2 Century, Duck Amuck) and Bugs Bunny (Hair-Raising Hare, Rabbit Fire, What's Opera, Doc?); he also created such beloved figures as the Road Runner and the Coyote (Fast and Furry-ous), Pepe Le Pew (For Scent-Imental Reasons), and the Three Bears (A Bear for Punishment). Jones further distinguished himself with numerous outstanding one-shot cartoons, including The Dover Boys, Feed the Kitty, and his classic, the singing-frog morality tale One Froggy Evening. In the mid-1960s he made several Tom & Jerry cartoons at MGM. More impressive was his work in the animated feature The Phantom Tollbooth (1969), co-directed by Abe Levitow; and his television adaptations of Rudyard Kipling's (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975)) and Dr. Seuss' (How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1965)). In 1979 Jones created linking animation scenes for a feature-length reissue anthology of his Warners cartoons, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (aka The Great American Chase). Through the 1990s, he provided animated sequences for Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). ~ Rovi
- 2000
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Chuck Jones: Extremes and Inbetweens - A Life in Animation was originally telecast as a PBS "Great Performances" episode on November 22, 2000. Warner Bros. animator Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones created many cartoon characters, including Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Runner. A key member of the team that developed Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Jones also directed more than 50 Bugs Bunny cartoons. In her paean to Jones, writer-producer-director Margaret Selby features a running interview with the 88-year-old Jones, as well as interviews with famous fans, including Hollywood luminaries Whoopi Goldberg, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Ron Howard, Toy Story director John Lasseter, Steven Spielberg, and Robin Williams. Highlights include clips from such classic Jones cartoons including Rabbit of Seville, What's Opera, Doc?, One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, the original television version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Academy Award-winner The Dot and the Line. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi
- Starring:
- Chuck Jones, Leonard Maltin, (more)
- 1999
Directed by Iwerks' granddaughter, this documentary seeks to highlight the cinematic accomplishments of Ub Iwerks, a forgotten genius overshadowed by the towering presence of Walt Disney. The details include his early life in Missouri, his teaming up with Disney, and the creation of his most famous work: Mickey Mouse. The film provides an in-depth look into the world of American animation during the '20s and '30s, including some rarely seen animated gems. After Iwerks left Disney to set up his own company, he became one of the key innovators of animation and helped train a future generation of cartoon masters, including Chuck Jones. Also featured are interviews with film critic Leonard Maltin and animators Mark Kausler and John Lasseter. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kelsey Grammer
Robin Williams learns that keeping in touch with his children can be a drag in this hit comedy. Daniel Hillard (Williams) is an eccentric actor who specializes in dubbing voices for cartoon characters. Daniel is a kind man and a loving father, but he's a poor disciplinarian and a shaky role model. After throwing an elaborate and disastrous birthday party for his son, Daniel's wife Miranda (Sally Field) reaches the end of her patience and files for divorce. Daniel is heartbroken when Miranda is given custody of the children, and he's only allowed to visit them once a week. Determined to stay in contact with his kids, Daniel learns that Miranda is looking for a housekeeper, and with help from his brother Frank (Harvey Fierstein), a makeup artist, Daniel gets the job disguised as Mrs. Iphegenia Doubtfire, a stern but caring Scottish nanny. Daniel pulls off the ruse so well that neither his ex-wife nor his children recognize him, and in the process, he learns how to be the good parent he should have been all along. However, Daniel also has to deal with the little matter of Miranda's new boyfriend, Stu (Pierce Brosnan). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Sally Field, (more)
John Ritter and Pam Dawber star as Roy and Helen Knable, a suburban American couple having marital problems. Roy has become a couch potato, and a resentful Helen wants him to ditch the remote. When the demonic Spike (Jeffrey Jones) offers Roy a deal on the ultimate satellite TV system, Roy doesn't realize that he's just signed away his soul. Roy and Helen are sucked into their own television, where they endure a gauntlet of Hellish television shows such as "Northern Overexposure" and "I Love Lucifer." When their kids Darryl (David Tom) and Diane (Heather McComb) realize that their parents are on the twisted television, they set out to rescue them. Among other elements, Stay Tuned contains an original cartoon short by Looney Tunes legend Chuck Jones. The film was the debut of writing team Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein, who would stay in the wacky comedy genre with a whopping four major releases in 1994. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Ritter, Pam Dawber, (more)
- 1992
- PG
This colorful, fast-paced documentary pays tribute to animator Chuck Jones on his eightieth birthday. Amidst many clips from his most famous cartoons, major stars and Hollywood figures ranging from Steven Spielburg to Ron Howard to composer Danny Elfman to film historian/critic Leonard Maltin to Whoopi Goldberg pay their respects. Highlights include clips from such cartoon classics as Bug's Bunny's The Rabbit of Seville, Daffy Duck's Duck Amuck, Jones' "Road Runner" shorts, and the classic TV holiday show How the Grinch Stole Christmas. All of these came from his Warner Brothers eras, but also shown are examples of his more experimental work done at MGM including his Oscar-winning The Dot and the Line. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steven Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
- 1991
The legendary animator and cartoon director Chuck Jones is profiled and discussed. ~ John Bush, Rovi
Where the original Gremlins was a horror film spiked with comedy, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is essentially a black comedy, with a couple of horrifying touches. As the film starts, the fantastical trinket shop in Chinatown, which sold the Mogwai in the first film, is demolished by a crazed multi-media businessman called Daniel Clamp (John Glover). The heroes from the first movie, Billy (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates), happen to work for Clamp in his huge high-rise. They find the Mogwai within Clamp's building, but not before he has accidentally spawned legions of mischievous, lizard-like Gremlins. Soon, the Gremlins are wreaking havoc throughout the building. In the original film, their misdeeds were violent, but here they're also goofy and satirical. Director Joe Dante has filled the film with quick verbal and visual jokes, which, for many, makes Gremlins 2: The New Batch a satire and inversion of the typical horror film. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, (more)
- 1988
- PG
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It has been 25 years since the last Killer Tomato has been squished into sauce. To this day the tasty red fruit are banned, and some folks fall in to paroxysms of fear at the mention of tomatoes. Still the general public has been lulled into believing that they are finally safe from the genetically engineered scourge. The purpose of this sci-fi sequel is to prove them wrong. The trouble begins when a pizza delivery boy (the pizzas only use non-tomato-base sauce) falls in love with a beautiful girl. Little does he know that she is the assistant of wicked Professor Gangreen who has engineered a brand new kind of tomato that can assume human form. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Starke, George Clooney, (more)
Director Joe Dante infuses this science fiction comedy with the visual razzle-dazzle and manic, goofball performances typical of his cartoon-inspired sensibilities. Navy test pilot Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) has volunteered for a highly dangerous medical experiment. A submersible craft, with Tuck at the controls, is to be shrunk down to molecular size and inserted into the body of a living rabbit. If successful, the test could result in radical breakthroughs in surgical techniques, but some high-tech thieves attempt to steal Tuck and his ship while both are in miniature form. Enter Jack Putter (Martin Short), a mild-mannered, hypochondriac retail store clerk, a nerd who suddenly finds himself injected with Tuck and his tiny ship. Now poor Jack's got to rise above his mundane existence to help an American hero get back to safety, while also trying to reunite Tuck with his beautiful estranged girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan). Innerspace (1987) won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, (more)
"Don't expose him to bright light. Don't ever get him wet. And don't ever, ever feed him after midnight." This sage advice is ignored midway through Gremlins, with devastating results. This comic Joe Dante effort is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town at Christmastime. Seeking a unique gift for his son an erstwhile inventor (Hoyt Axton) purchases a cute, fuzzy little "Mogwai" from a Chinatown shopkeeper's (Keye Luke) grandson (John Louie), who dispenses the above-mentioned warning before closing the deal. Meanwhile, young bank clerk Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) must suffer such antagonists as rich-bitch Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) and priggish Gerald (Judge Reinhold) while pursuing his romance with Kate (Phoebe Cates). These and a variety of other plot strands are tied together when the lovable mogwai (named Gizmo) is exposed to bright light and gotten wet. In short order, the town is invaded by nasty, predatory Gremlins, who lay waste to everything in sight as Billy and Kate try to contain the destruction. Like most of Joe Dante's works, Gremlins is chock-full of significant cameo appearances: in this instance, such pop-culture icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Chuck Jones, Scott Brady, Harry Carey Jr., Steven Spielberg (the film's executive producer) and even Robby the Robot all show up briefly on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Hoyt Axton, (more)
- 1981
- G
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New bits of animation link together this compilation of Friz Freleng-directed Warner Bros. cartoons, which includes the Oscar-winning Knighty Knight Bugs. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mel Blanc, June Foray, (more)
- 1981
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Several years after the death of novelty album recording artist Ross Bagdasarian, his son Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. brought his father's most popular creation, Alvin and the Chipmunks, back to life with a record album called Chipmunk Punk (1980). The resurgence in popularity of the high-pitched, squeaky-voiced, animated chipmunks Alvin (the mischievous one), Theodore (the giggly, shy, fat one) and Simon (the brainy one) allowed Bagdasarian, Jr. to follow that project with Alvin & the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Christmas (1981), a half-hour television special and accompanying record album. Voicing the same character Bagdasarian had, that of the chipmunks' "father" Dave Seville, Bagdasarian, Jr. created the story of the chipmunks preparing a Carnegie Hall appearance, only to realize that Alvin has given away his harmonica, an instrument with which he's scheduled to perform a solo. On the play list for their big show was "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late)," the single that launched the chipmunks' decades-spanning career in 1958. So popular was Alvin & the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Christmas, that in 1983, NBC produced a second chipmunks TV series, Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983-1990), which ran as a Saturday morning children's program, spawning a variety of videos and further record albums. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., Janice Karman, (more)
- 1980
Unlike most other Bugs Bunny TV specials, Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over eschews footage from older cartoons, offering instead three brand-new animated shorts. In flashback, Bugs recalls his first meeting with Elmer Fudd, when both were infants. Then he remembers a momentous confrontation with the nerdish Marvin Martian. The final sequence is a continuation of the decades-old battle of wits between the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Bugs Bunny's Busting Out All Over was originally telecast May 21, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1979
"A Christmas Carol" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" are the two tales spun by Bugs and his fellow 'toons in this animated special. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- 1979
From his distinguished retirement in a carrot-filled mansion in Beverly Hills, Bugs Bunny (in new animation) introduces the stories of dozens of cartoon adventures created during the Chuck Jones tenure (1939-62) at Warner Brothers' animation department. The new animation contains many in-jokes and sly references; look for the portraits of many eminent figures in the animation business, including Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, and Mel Blanc in the eminent rabbit's portrait gallery. Besides featuring Bugs and the Road Runner, the film contains adventures with Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd, including the classic, "Duck Amuck." ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1978
The witty 'toon rabbit finds himself in medieval times in this animated spoof of Mark Twain's classic tale. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
- 1976
Combining classic music with classic animated characters this feature from animator/director Chuck Jones stars Bugs Bunny and pal Daffy Duck. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1976
In this film, historical events are given a slightly different spin when it is revealed that a group of animals were responsible for writing the patriotic tune "Yankee Doodle Dandy," assisting Thomas Jefferson with the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and helping out Paul Revere in his hour of need. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1975
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was one of several animated TV specials based on the works of Rudyard Kipling, and produced and directed by Chuck Jones. The title character is a courageous mongoose, the unofficial pet of a British family living in India. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi has appointed himself protector of the family's young son. He proves his mettle when two vicious cobras prepare to attack the child. Narrated by Orson Welles, the half-hour Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was originally telecast January 9, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1975
Based on the Rudyard Kipling story, this film follows the story of a young white seal who grows up to become the savior of the local seal population when it is threatened by seal hunters. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- 1973
Animator Chuck Jones helmed this tale, adapted from the work of Rudyard Kipling, of a boy raised by wolves. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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