Cheap Tex Avery's Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection (DVD) (Tex Avery) Price

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Customer Reviews of Tex Avery's Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection

Hello all you happy people
The package for This DVD set cleary states - well, okay, in flea print three-quarters down the back cover - "Droopy The Complete Theatrical Collection is intended for the Adult Collector and May Not Be Suitable for Children." So why has this set appeared in the "Family" section of so many stores? Sometimes life is filled with boundless mystery. One peek-a-boo at Tex Avery's famous shapely gyrating red headed female dynamo - featured as a sensuously splayed "centerfold" in the DVD's gatefold - and the message that "this ain't for kids" gets delivered like a blunt object to the skull. Cartoons in general weren't conceived of as puerile entertainment until the butt end of the twentieth century appeared on the dusty horizon. Then kiddie demographics reigned in toonland. Why this happened remains somewhat of a scalp scratcher. As such, it stands. Droopy appeared long before this in 1943, somewhere around the century's hairy midriff, while war raged in Europe and Asia. As the mini-documentary "Droopy and Friends: A Laugh Back," included with this set, says, Avery had the fighting troops in mind while concocting his frenetic masterpieces. He aimed his humor at their gullets as others took dangerons literal aim at their corporeality. Hence the jiggling bombshells, eye-gouging violence, exaggerated pacing, psychotic absurdity, and bungling idiot con men. Here lies troop humor that weighs heavily toward the masculine side of the scale. Into this testosterone drenched landscape enters Droopy, the cute little guy who everyone, most of all the idiot con men, underestimates. For instance, draw a mustache on a picture of his girl and this small sack of nil, with speech like molasses gooing down a tornado slide, becomes the Incredible Hulk. Dragons and toreadors beware when this diminutive basset hound utters, in stultifying monotone, "You know what... that makes me mad." Apart from this dormant AK-47 strength, Droopy's most impressive power is instantaneous teleportation. He can transport himself from Hollywood to the North Pole in under a nanosecond. Though his inocuous "boo" carries little horror, the small hound terrifies with his improbable omnipresence. Droopy stands as a perennial reminder never to judge anything by its size alone. Which also applies to this 2-DVD set. Though small in stature, it won't take up much room on your shelf, it contains a brain blast of cartoon frenzy. Prepare thy psyche and keep it away from the kids (on second thought, generations of people were raised on this stuff and turned out just fine). <
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>The vast majority of the toons presented here are of the highest quality and attain maximum toonosity. Things sag a little bit towards the end as directorship hops from Avery to Michael Lah (actually, "Cabellero Droopy" was directed by Dick Lundy, not Avery as the package indicates). Still, the set contains no bad toons whatsoever, though incredible standouts include Droopy's jaw-dropping debut "Dumb-Hounded" and the incredible cow versus sheep ala Ben Hur "Homesteader Droopy." The undeniable influence of these toons on others, most notably Ren & Stimpy, becomes apparent after a single frame. Avery also mastered the self-referential gag. "I do this to him all through the picture," "Hello all you happy people," and "Exciting, isn't it?" become mantras. And though some of the jokes get repeated more than a few times, this doesn't detract from the brillance that is Droopy. Viewers also receive ample warning about some of the racism and sexism that pervade these cartoons. They remain products of their time. Nonetheless, Warner Brothers edited none of them. They play as they played originally. No sanitizing or political correctness was applied here, and that's a good thing, because it's easy to forget the appalling heights that racial and gender stereotyping reached a mere fifty years ago. Editing out such material does no one a squat of good. So sit back and enjoy the mania that Tex Avery wielded from the director's chair. He shaped the medium, and his influence continues to do so. Droopy stands as one of Avery's best know characters and this amazing set provides more than enough ample evidence as to why. Exciting, isn't it?

THE LONG WAIT IS OVER!
I have waited many years for a comprehensive DVD collection of Droopy cartoons to appear. Until now all that was available was a badly-burned bootleg set with faulty sound and color. Now, thankfully, the long wait is over. "Tex Avery's Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection" gathers togerher all 24 cartoons, completely uncut and restored. <
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>I give this set 4 stars due to several shortcomings. The cartoons were processed with DVNR, which blurs some lines on some frames. While this in no way renders any cartoon unwatchable, it is noticeable. Also, while the color is excellent, the film clean-up could have been a little better. Finally, ther should have been more extra features and commentaries. All in all, though, this set is essential, and well worth getting.