Well I saw Looney Tunes: back In Action and it's prompted this deep sentement in me that I want to share. It may turn into less of a review than an argument, but here goes. I have always been a fan of animation. I think if anyone was a canidate for too much tv syndrome, I would certainly be a frontrunner. I literally grew up in front of a television, and it's not something I'm ashamed of. I'll readily admit to watching 25-30+ hours of Television during the work week growing up and then another 20+ on the weekends. Many people may find this horribly wrong for some reason, but I also played sports and was very active in the youth group growing up. I wouldn't say that I was a vampire, but I certainly watched more than my share of TV. A good 30% of this was cartoons, Saturday mornings to begin with, but then the cartoon heavy networks like Nickelodeon and then the end all great Cartoon Network. Throughout the years I've probably seen more cartoons than most of the people I know, combined, just simply because a facet of my personality is information absorbtion. I'm a Pop culture glutton and it's a large part of who I am today.

All that said, I love Looney Tunes. I love the sophistication and the slapstick humor. As the years went by and my understanding of Classical Hollywood grew the Merrie Melodies took a whole new level of entertainment for me. They're windows into that WWII era, the past and I find it amazing to watch. I'm also in love with the characters, that are each so distinct and so perfectly shaped into my consciousness that I feel like I know them personally. I respect these characters and I revere them, that on top of it all they are representitive of an artform that creatively expresses genius of the like of Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng just astounds me.

It is something I feel incredibly honored to have.

So when a Studio brings these gems back out I immediately approach it as the honor it is and I jump at the chance to see the film. I can overlook the blatant product placement, the forced dialogue and the contrived plot as long as the film stays true to the original art. Looney Tunes: BIA has done this, and I respect it immensly for doing so. There are brilliant moments of warmth and depth in the movie that shead a whole new perspective on these characters I love. There's homages to the Geniuses and the geniunely funny gags that have me gaping from the audacity. While there's much room for improvement the film works in the end, and I like it.

But when I walk out of the theater I'm sad, because with the declining numbers of tradition 2D animators across the globe, it seems people are forgetting. With the news of a less than stellar box office, it actually hurts, because I know the studio will be wary of bringing these characters out again any time soon. Visionarys like Joe Dante can't bring modern kids the brilliance of these characters without Studio backing. And in the end it's another coffin nail for history and art.

If I were in the position to put my career on the line for these characters I would, in a second. As it is, no one knows my name yet, and there's not much more that I can do than see the film twice this weekend and drag my friends along. So I'm going to do what I can and suggest that everyone else out there do the same. Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Pepe, Foghorn, Sam, Elmer, Tweety and Slyvester, Granny, Marvin, Wile, The Roadrunner, Taz, Michigan, heck Petunia even... They're national treasures folks and it's about time we started acting like it.