Waterwar2

The Battle of Waterballoons

On August 1st of the year 2011…two departments, Lighting and Animation, went head to head in an EPIC battle of fluidic warfare. Neither had seen the sun very much over the past few months, but also hadn’t really minded either since it was 111 degrees that day.

Balloons were tossed, trash cans of ice water were thrown, and all artists had an awesome time while cooling off the only way you can in Texas during the middle of summer during a drought.

By wasting large amounts of water.

coyote_and_roadrunner

“Coyote Falls” Gets Amazing Reviews!

The premiere weekend of the new Looney Tunes short, “Coyote Falls” in theaters has come and gone. And it’s left in it’s wake some really stellar reviews from critics and audiences a like! Now I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I am SO PROUD to have been apart of this creative team. The whole experience has just been a dream come true for everyone involved, so I wanted to give you all a consolidated list of all the reviews I’ve collected so far. The fruits of all the hard work everyone put in to make these as great as they are.

Now all that’s left to do is wait for the world to see the next two shorts. Which I’m so excited for, because each one is seriously better than the last!

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The Washington Post

The best part of “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” happens before this derivative family film even begins. It’s the Looney Tunes animated short, “Coyote Falls,” that precedes the movie.

The 6-year-old next to me, like nearly every child in the theater, shrieked in delight and gasped in wonder as Wile E. Coyote was smashed, flattened, run over and blown up in an enormous fireball. (All in 3-D!) For kids raised on the nonviolent, chipper children’s entertainment of Nickelodeon and PBS Kids, the first Road Runner cartoon they’ve ever seen delivers genuine entertainment catharsis.

Tampa Bay Times

The sole reason to buy tickets — 3-D or otherwise — to Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore has absolutely nothing to do with the movie, which belongs in a pooper-scooper.

It’s a preceding, too-short subject that almost makes the investment worthwhile, starring Looney Tunes legends Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote in richer colors and more eye-popping depth than ever. Coyote Falls needs only those cartoon icons, a bungee cord, a bridge and heavy traffic on a desert highway to muster more enjoyment than the main event never matches.

Coyote Falls seems like a trial run for a possible Looney Tunes revival, retrofitted for the 3-D generation. That makes more sense in theory and now execution than most childhood retreads do in any format. The late animation genius Chuck Jones would be proud.

Box Office Magazine

In fact, Kitty Galore’s best laughs occur during the Looney Tunes pre-show cartoon Coyote Falls. Its 3D is fast and furious and the slapstick is clever. The cartoon short has everything Kitty Galore desperately needs. Too bad the Looney Tunes writers didn’t help out with the feature presentation.

Boston.com

Very much the best part of “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore’’ is the new “Road Runner’’ cartoon that precedes it. It’s in 3-D, of course, and Wile E. Coyote and his eternal avian nemesis have been rendered in fleshed-out, “realistic’’ shadings. I prefer the flat pop colors of yesteryear, but in all other respects, the short’s a scream: fast, funny, impeccably timed, and as brutally obedient to the laws of Looney Tunes physics as ever.

The National Post

In fact, the only thing that got the kids riled up was a new Road Runner short that preceded the feature. Although it lasted only five minutes, the dialogue-free, gleefully wacky toon scored more laughs than any wise-cracking pooch, no matter how famous the voice actor. Out of the mouths of babes indeed.

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What Up Doc?

Wanna see what my wife Jess and I have been working on for the past 4 months? And also the reason I haven’t posted diddly on this blog either? Well then check out this shot of Wile E. that Jess lit / comp’d that was featured in the New York freakin’ Times!

LINK: New York Times – What’s Up, Doc? New Looneys

Meanwhile, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote are going back to work in movie theaters in a series of 3-D shorts. The first of these shorts — Warner has approved three, and three more are in development — will play ahead of the movie “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” which arrives in theaters July 30.

And the fan response over at Cartoon Brew is pretty awesome too. Fans really seem to be getting excited for the CG shorts! Here are some of my favorite comments…

Rafa says:

The road runner shot looks amazing!
the bugs & daffy, not so much…

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lampshade says:

auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh

hey, the CGI shot doesn’t look so bad though

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Fooksie says:

I agree, Rafa. Wile E Coyote looks fantastic.

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erlab says:

I was seriously SCARED of Daffy’s welcoming expression! Now that I know Bugs WILL look like that, I will just have to live with it or ignore the show.

CN is still running the original cartoons in the morning right?

That CG Road Runner series has potential to be really good.

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A.J. says:

The cgi coyote looks pretty nifty!
But Bugs is having a serious tude problem…and his feet and face..wtf?

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Taber Dunipace says:

Why is Daffey made of thistles? I hope that Coyote shot is going to be as good as it looks now!

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coyote says:

“The short will be in theatres? That’s great! The shorts were made in India? That’s really unfortunate.”

Don’t worry, the shorts aren’t being made in India. They’re being done by Reel FX in Dallas.

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tgentry says:

I guess I’m just restating what many others have already said, but the genericized, Flash-happy Bugs and Daffy make me incredibly sad. It’s odd that the 3D coyote looks much more organic and cartoon-like than the more trendy and souless look of Bugs and Daffy. Looking forward to the updated Roadrunners.

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mrscriblam says:

i like the coyote cgi shot

looks almost like stop-motion, which is a style i think would work very well for that sketch

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vfx says:

The real fun will be when everyone gets to frame-by-frame through the CG animation to see just how spot on it is to the classic stuff.

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The comments just go on and on. So I’ll let you thumb through them at your own pace.

But I will end with this. To all the fans who love the original Wile E Coyote and Road Runner shorts, the CG shorts will not disappoint. I dare say, you’re going to love them! I’m so proud to be a part of this project, as is every other single person on the team. And we’re putting in the hard work and long hours to do justice to what Chuck Jones brought to life all those years ago.

This is most certainly not all folks :) Just you wait.