The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
sonofatreus's review
5.0
There's a lot of information in this book, but probably the most enlightening to me was that my house was a Looney Tunes house, not a Disney house. Now, we watched the animated features (Lion King, etc.), but were never really into cartoons that featured Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the rest. There were Looney Tunes cartoons described by Weinman that I haven't seen in twenty years and I could still easily recall exactly what he was talking about.
The book covers the history of Looney Tunes, back when they were pretty blatantly racist, ripping off other characters, or both. It goes over the creation and evolution of most of the major characters, both in terms of animation styles and their personalities. Much of it is focused on the creators, but it gets into how the audiences and executives perceived them too. There's a touch of analysis of the cartoons themselves but not enough to be a proper analysis.
It's probably not a perfect book, but it's very readable and full of information. I enjoyed it.
The book covers the history of Looney Tunes, back when they were pretty blatantly racist, ripping off other characters, or both. It goes over the creation and evolution of most of the major characters, both in terms of animation styles and their personalities. Much of it is focused on the creators, but it gets into how the audiences and executives perceived them too. There's a touch of analysis of the cartoons themselves but not enough to be a proper analysis.
It's probably not a perfect book, but it's very readable and full of information. I enjoyed it.
heidinay's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
This definitely reads like a thesis or a school paper. I think it was well organized, but also a bit less interesting than I'd hoped. It was a little hard to keep all the different people separate at times, but overall he introduced people and topics pretty well. I did appreciate his handling of problematic issues through a modern lens.Â
harrietshelley's review
informative
slow-paced
4.75
wonderful book! the author was clearly very passionate and it was such an easy read because of it. weinman cares for the subject matter deeply, which made the viewpoint very interesting, especially when looking towards the future of the company. i loved each anecdote as well - from the author's own experiences to the directors. this book was at its weakest when it explained through the shorts however, but i don't think this would have been a problem for people who would be willing to watch the shorts mentioned before each review.Â
monkreads's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.75
A really interesting read. I admit it felt more like something I would have read academically, and the bibliography is a joy for anyone studying animation. Hugely distracting for this geek, but it just meant I have other things to read off the back of this. I would have loved to have known the author's thoughts on Animaniacs, but we can't have everything. Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.
meaghanreadshfx's review
5.0
My entire childhood revolved around watching Looney Tunes cartoons so when I saw the opportunity to read this book I jumped on it! This book really celebrates the quirky, zany entertainment of watching Looney Tunes cartoons and explores their history in a way that is super insightful and entertaining. It's definitely a must-read for sure!
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