Review of Carnival of the Animals

. . . and Ogden Nash's sound poem "Carnival of the Animals" 10 out of 10, it takes a perverse amount of effort (or lack thereof) to "adapt" it into something which merits an "8" at best. However, the Classic Looney Tuners who lend at least their names to this U.S. Bicentennial TV special--BUGS AND DAFFY'S CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS, included as a "Special Feature" on Disc 4 of Volume 5, Looney Tunes Golden Collection--must have cringed knowing that they had accomplished that dubious feat. Bugs and Daffy are animated here as stiff, hollow echoes of their former robust selves, with little effort made to Synch their mouths and motions to the soundtrack. The minimalist line drawings done for the musical interludes are even lamer; the sort of things that the Looney Tuners themselves would have savagely spoofed during their 1940s heydays. The running joke about all of Daffy Duck's Bon Mots eliciting the sounds of silence (chirping crickets) from an indifferent audience (which wildly applauds everything Bugs says) is a Looney Tunes hallmark around since the 1950s. Using it once here might constitute a Nod to Cartoon History, but repeating it 37 times as a running gag (that is, "gag" in the nauseating sense) is the sort of padding reflecting an imagination running on fumes that even a toddler can detect.