Ready.. Set.. Zoom!

Daniel's Productions3.5

Was wondering what the ending joke was reminded me of before remembering the hunting trilogy, which this this isn't as funny as but still solid.

Tim Brayton4.5

Unusually well-structured, for a Coyote & Road Runner short: even the very best ones will often feel somewhat like Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese just put all the gags into a cocktail shaker and assembled them by random chance, but there's a distinct pattern in this one, and a sort of escalation from less- to more-baroque traps. It also manages to end on one of its most superb moments, a rarity for this series. I feel in some ways like this was Jones studying former colleague Tex Avery; the Coyote shorts are by far Jones's most Avery-esque work, but the careful positioning of dynamite gags in this one, and the way the dynamite punchlines reinforce each other, feels extremely like Avery's dynamite-based shorts at MGM.Great stuff, though I have a hard time drawing distinctions between the Coyote & Road Runner shorts at this point (as of right now, on my big ranked list of every Looney Tune, this, Zipping Along and Stop! Look! and Hasten! occupy three consecutive spots); the other Avery-style thing here is that the comic brilliance is built up through repetition, but where Avery's repetitions build within a single short, in this series it's more like the repetitions build across shorts. Whatever, it works out. And I don't know if Jones found some leftover Maurice Noble layouts in the couch cushions or if the production code gives a wildly misleading idea of where this came in production order or what, but Noble had his last credit on a Jones short for a long while with this one, and they are fantastic layouts; the use of close-ups in particular is striking and hilarious, and he and Philip DeGuard continue to get better and better at stripping the desert down to its minimalist essence.Plus, some really wonderful animation drawings of the Coyote in this one. So many pathetic looks towards the camera, every one of them different.

HAL3.5

I love the buildup to the wagon gag because it just shows various boxes already opened and the contents absconded with. Each box is labeled what was in it and for a few seconds you’re pondering what Wile E has up his coyote sleeves. And then you see oh duh he tied a boat motor to his back and carried a wagon with a tub of water behind him so the boat motor can push him along on his roller skates he’s wearing. Who came up with that? Are they proud? They should be.