Looney Tunes Platinum Collection - Volume One [Blu-ray]

***** - the films
***** - the discs

This review may seem contradictory, this is a five-star set of cartoons presented in a five-star Blu-ray release, and I have to rate this set on those merits. But there are some things not five-star for those of us who have been collecting the Golden Collections on DVD.

O.K, , you are probably saying "These Looney Tunes Blu-ray titles seem familiar", that is because just about all of them have been released on the DVD Golden, Oscar, & Superstars Collections. Why? Because when they were restored for those Collections they were restored in Hi-Definition 1080p, so Warner had an easy Blu-ray release here with out spending much money for new film transfers.

This means that unlike the "Wow" effect we got when we first saw the Golden Collection DVDs after watching washed out Laserdiscs & VHS tapes, this time we will see the same film transfers with improved restoration in 1080p resolution. I have seen the Blu-ray presentations of "Rabbit Hood" and "I Love to Singa" and they look nice, but you will need a rather large HD-TV to notice any kind of improvement over the Golden Collection DVDs. "I Love to Singa" still looks grainy & has negative dust just like the Golden Collection DVDs.

One BIG improvement is with BABY BOTTLENECK, the original film transfer has undergone further restoration work to reduce the grain seen in the older DVD. There is still grain, but it is a big improvement.

Warner did spend some money to make a few new Hi-Def transfers for titles not previously on DVD:

Disc #1
Lovelorn Leghorn - Foghorn Leghorn - only available previously on VHS

Disc #2
Hasty Hare - Bugs Bunny & Marvin Martian - previously available on the Laserdisc "Looney Tunes After Dark"
Hare-way To The Stars - Bugs Bunny & Marvin Martian - previously available on the Laserdisc "Looney Tunes After Dark"
Bill of Hare - Bugs Bunny & Tasmanian Devil - previously available on the Laserdisc "Stars of Space Jam"
A Witches Tangled Hare - Bugs Bunny & Witch Hazel - only available previously on VHS.
Feline Frame-up - previously available on the Laserdisc "Assorted Nuts"

Disc #3 (Presented in STANDARD DEFINITION unless noted)
Marvin Martian in the 3rd Dimension (1996) - non-anamorphic letterboxed small screen presentation.
Father of the Bird - Foghorn Leghorn (1997)
Museum Scream - Tweety & Sylvester (2003) - High Defenition, anamorphic widescreen
And some Chuck Jones productions:
Hell Bent for Election (1944)
Hitch In time (1955) - High defenition
The Door (with Bill Cosby 1968)

It is puzzling, and disappointing that disc #3 is mostly in STANDARD DEFINITION Blu-ray, with noticeable scan lines. It is obviously hobbled together quickly to give this set a third disc. I saw only three Hi-Definition cartoons on disc #3: "A Hitch In Time" (1955), "90 Day Wondering" (1955) and in anamorphic widescreen "Museum Scream" (2003). "Superior Duck" also looks good like it might be in Hi-Definition but it clocks in with the other standard definition cartoons. "Marvin Martian in the 3rd Dimension" (1996) is a real disappointment in standard definition, it is letterboxed and not anamorphic, the picture is really shrunk down. I was also looking forward to seeing "The Dot and The Line" as well as "The Bear That Wasn't" in Hi-definition, but that was not to be here. Maybe if a Chuck Jones MGM Cartoon set comes out in Blu-ray we may see true Di-Definition presentations of those cartoons then.

So if you have all of the DVD Golden Collections, The Oscar Winners & Nominees collection, and the Superstars Collections, you will likely only be buying this for the 6 newly restored cartoons on discs 1 & 2.
I guess a direct re-release of the Golden Collections on Blu-ray would have sold less than a Blu-ray collection featuring 6 new titles not previously on DVD.

Notice that there are only 50 classic cartoons here, the old Golden Collection DVDs had 60 cartoons per set. So it will take more Blu-ray sets to cover the same quantity of cartoons as the old DVD sets.

** If you are trying to decide between the expensive "Ultimate Collector's Edition" and the regular edition, there is really nothing "Ultimate" about the "Ultimate Edition". The Ultimate edition adds a Bugs Bunny shot glass (yes you heard me Bugs Bunny is promoting alcoholic drinking) and a certificate of authenticity (like we are worried about bootleg Blu-rays), a tin with a picture on it and a matted lithograph. I think reproductions of the cartoon lobby cards that appear shrunken in the booklet would have been a better deal.
Save your money & get the basic version, the discs are the same.**

At least something is being released for the animation fans again by Warner Home Video. If you can afford it, lets support this Hi-Def project and keep some new titles coming out.

The main draw for me to purchase this set was that it included the complete collection of Marvin the Martian and Taz cartoons, as I already have the 6 Golden Collections and all the Superstars discs. Well after getting it and watching some of the cartoons my mind was blown as to how well the cartoons look on a 1080p set. The colors pop as if they were produced just yesterday. Although in some of the cartoons scratches and dust are more noticeable (one has to remember that these cartoons were made around 60-70 years ago), but it does not detract from the overall experience.

Also included in the collector's set is a certificate of authenticity,a framed lithograph titled "The Looney Tunes March," a tin sign that features Bugs and Daffy, and of all things a Bugs Bunny shot glass. According to the box, only 36,000 of these sets were produced, so for die-hard Looney Tunes collectors this might be right up your alley!

Disc 1 contains a random assortment of goodies from Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other Looney Tunes stars.

Disc 2 contains the complete Marvin the Martian, the complete Taz the Tasmanian Devil, and the complete Witch Hazel, as well as complete collections for other stars. This disc also features one-hit wonders such as I Love to Singa, The Three Little Bops, and One Froggy Evening.

Disc 3 contains films revolving around one of the greatest animation directors of all time Chuck Jones, and features some of his greatest non-Looney Tunes shorts such as: The Dot and the Line and other rare Chuck Jones oddities. Also included on this disc is 9 bonus cartoons such as: Spaced-Out Bunny, Superior Duck, and From Hare to Eternity.

If you are on the fence about purchasing this, pick this set up now! You will not regret it.

This set is a revelation! People who think the DVD is "good enough" are nuts.

I just watched all the Clampetts and the early Jones cartoons on my ten foot screen and every single one had my jaw on the floor. They're beautiful. The overall saturation level is too high and the volume of the cartoons is a bit low, but I turned down the color and turned up the sound and they were perfect... No, beyond perfect. I've seen these cartoons projected theatrically quite a few times, but the colors weren't anywhere as well balanced in theatrical prints as they are here. It isn't like the Disney films where everything is goosed up and shifted to primary colors. These transfers have very sophisticated color schemes with muted colors AND vivid ones. Great Piggy Bank Robbery and especially Kitty Cornered had some of the most amazing color I've ever seen. The lines were sharp, you can see textures and brushstrokes on the backgrounds and every frame is crystal clear with no compression or DVNR artifacting. I've been quite critical of the transfer quality of the Looney Tunes on DVD, but this time, WB got it right.

Don't believe me? Check out this photo I shot off my screen using my iphone...
[...]

If you think your DVDs look good, pop in One Froggy Evening and skip to the scene where the crowd of people is exiting crossing the scene about 3/4 of the way through the cartoon. Still frame on that crowd. On DVD, it's a macroblocked mess of colored boxes. On bluray, it's pristine. The color balances, digital noise reduction and frame sharpness are MUCH worse on the DVDs. This set is a thousand times better. When I put in the third disk with the standard def documentaries with the old prints, it was like going back to the stone age. They could have totally eliminated the supplements and just given me more cartoons in HD. I want more of these sets.

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