War and Pieces (1964)
After another failed series of attempts to catch the ever-elusive Road Runner with a grenade, a bow, a rope, invisible paint, and a gun disguised as a peep show, Wile E. Coyote uses a rocket to chase after the bird. The rocket goes off course, crashes through the earth and sends Wile E. to China where a Chinese Road Runner greets him.
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Waste of time
the audience applauded
From my favorite movies..
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
While not one of the classics of the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote series, it is a long way from one of the duds.The animation is beautifully coloured, with both characters being well drawn especially Coyote and expressions and detailed backgrounds. While formulaic, as with most cartoons of the series, the story is lively paced and told with continuous charm and fun.'War and Pieces' is a very funny cartoon, without being one of the funniest. The pants and invisible paint gags are excellent gags, but the gag with the Chinese Roadrunner is the definite highlight. Both characters come off very well indeed, Roadrunner is a plot device but still very amusing but Coyote has the funniest of the material and is the more interesting and likable of the two.My only big complaint actually is Bill Lava's score. He has composed worse, but it is lifeless, on the cheap side and somewhat ill-fitting.In conclusion, with the exception of the music 'War and Pieces' is very nicely done. 8/10 Bethany Cox
The last Road Runner short directed by Chuck Jones in the classic era before he left Warner Bros. While it's not among his best, it is enjoyable and a fitting end to a great series. The animation is crisp with lovely colors and nice backgrounds. The music, provided by Bill Lava, is better than his average output but still weak compared to previous Looney Tunes composers. The gags are mostly funny. Love the bit where Wile E. Coyote loses his "pants." Other good gags include ACME invisible paint and Secrets of a Harem. The highlight of the short is the ending where Wile E. meets a different Road Runner from the other side of the world and tries his luck at catching that one.
As Chuck Jones saw that Warner Bros. was closing the animation department, he probably decided that he should direct one last Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon. "War and Pieces" has Road "Burn-em Upus Asphaltus" Runner and Wile E. "Caninus Nervous Rex" Coyote doing their usual stuff until WEC throws a wrench in the works. He uses a rocket pack to try and catch RR, but it turns around and sends him burrowing all the way through earth until he comes out in China...where he meets a Chinese RR! Are these sadistic birds trying to take over the world or something? So, it was good to see Chuck direct one last cartoon before leaving the studio, if nothing else. Worth seeing.
In 'War and Pieces' the Road Runner is introduced as Burn-em Upus Asphaltus and the Coyote as Caninus Nevous Rex. From that moment we see the Coyote using a grenade, himself as an arrow where he loses his pants (you have to see it yourself to understand what that means), a rope and some invisible paint.Although some of the moments made me smile, like the lost pants, most of the time the gags do not really work here. The invisible paint has some nice touches although I think that some opportunities were missed there. The cartoon is saved in the end where the Coyote has a short visit to China and he encounters a Chinese Road Runner. It is the only real laugh in this short.