The Whizzard of Ow

Whizzard of Ow
Whizzard of Ow
Directed by	Bret Haaland
Written by	Chris Kelly
Based on	Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner
Produced by	Larry Doyle Sherry Gunther
Edited by	David Bertman
Music by	John Frizzell
Production companies	Warner Bros. Rough Draft Studios
Release date	November 1, 2003 (2003-11-01)
Running time	7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Whizzard of Ow is an animated short film that was released on November 1, 2003. It was directed by Bret Haaland. It stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, and is the first short of these characters produced after the death of Chuck Jones on February 22, 2002. The film was included in the DVD release of Looney Tunes: Back in Action as a special feature. ^[1]

Plot

The short begins with a magical battle between two different stereotypes of sorcerers (a short Gandalf-like wizard that holds a large "Acme Book of Magic" in one hand and a staff in the other, and a tall Doctor Strange-like warlock with a black cat on his shoulder) where they zap each other until they zap each other in a final energy blast. Their possessions escape unharmed and fall on Wile E. Coyote, just as he was about to catch Road Runner, causing considerable pain to him (especially the cat, who viciously scratches to his face out of fear). Coyote notices the ACME book of magic and becomes delightfully happy (as his hare-like ears fall off), as he now has a new weapon against the Road Runner. The first spell that Coyote tries is to turn the black cat into a giant feral beast to catch the Roadrunner. Coyote buys an ACME flying broomstick and, after some trial and error, begins to chase the Road Runner through the air. In his second spell, Coyote tries to turn himself in a giant, but much to his chagrin, the spell only affects his head, whose weight crushes his own body. Coyote uses invisible ink to make a bomb transparent and disguise it as a crystal ball in order to lure an unsuspecting Road Runner to his death. However, the fake crystal ball actually works and the Road Runner sees Coyote's future where he's caught—a future that quickly turns into reality when the bomb rolls straight to him and explodes.

Cast

• Paul Julian
• Tress MacNeille

Background

When Larry Doyle, the short film's producer, and also the writer for Looney Tunes: Back in Action , learned that Warner Bros. had a desire to "refresh the Looney Tunes brand", he went to them and "pitched an idea that involved resurrecting theatrical shorts", which had always been the cartoon's original format. According to Doyle, he thought the studio's "brand identity had fallen off the map," and "these shorts could more easily bring back their brand identity, because it is easier to duplicate the success of the shorts than it is to make a great movie with those characters". Doyle then became responsible for a program that created a "stable of theatrical shorts". The program under his direction had produced eight completed short films, by the time he left in 2003, after the studio didn't renew his contract. The Whizzard of Ow was the first short to be released. Doyle also noted that the studio "tinkered with the shorts a lot after I left, and didn't make anything that I would characterize as a good change ... they made a bunch of changes like taking out some adult humor, taking out or changing jokes that they thought people wouldn't get, too smart or too weird. I think they just got really conservative." ^[2]

References

1. Hulse, Ed (February 16, 2004). "Drawing Inspiration From The Masters". Video Business. 24 (7): 18.
2. Brooks, Jake (December 1, 2003). "Could That Be All, Folks? Looney Tunes Whiff for Bros". The New York Observer. p. 13.

External links

• The Whizzard of Ow at IMDb
• The Whizzard of Ow at Filmaffinity