I'm not an expert on the various LT eras, but I guess I like Jones for familiarity at least...even if there was somewhat of a formula.
I treat all living things equally. That is to say, I eat all living things
Avery was the best of them overall, but not the best at working with the Warner cartoons. He was at his best at MGM.
In pure LT terms, Jones, with Clampett as a close second, personal warts and all. I liked Freleng a lot in his Pink Panther stage, but his LT work, especially the Sylvester stuff, tended to be competent but otherwise unremarkable, other than his Sam shorts.
I've sort of favored a lot of Mckimson's stuff, partially for it's underated value (it's lost in a lot Jones and Freleng's more iconic material and animation critics tend to pan his style) and the fact he seemed the most versatile of the final trio. As stated above, one of Jones (and to a lesser extent Freleng's) shortcomings at times was that their shorts were very formula driven, and while they were often pretty good formulas, you'd more or less seen their full potential after two or three shorts of the same thing.
Mckimson seemed to like putting the characters in different lights and scenarios. I think this may have been a key point in why he kept up the earlier enterpretations of Bugs and Daffy more (he once criticized the later versions of being too 'underplayed') instead prefering to merge or interchange between the best of both worlds when the opportunity fit. The nearest to him making a rather limited formula was his Hippity Hopper series, though even then he made some other Sylvester shorts to compensate.
There is a slight downside of Mckimson's characterizations, which mostly if all befit that of, as John K puts, "a middle aged grumpy curmudgeon", though it does work to good effect in places (I thought his versions of Bugs and Porky were the most vibrant).
edited 12th Feb '13 6:33:55 PM by Psi001
Do you have any Mckimson recommendations/favorites?
I treat all living things equally. That is to say, I eat all living things
A lot of Mc Kimson's that stand out are those that are unique from the usual formulas, especially when deconstructing the mainstream characters (eg. "Rebel Rabbit" for Bugs or "Ducking The Devil" for Daffy). He did a good job with some of the regular formulas Jones and Freleng refined at times though (eg. "Stupor Duck" and "French Rarebit"). "Easter Yeggs" is probably one of my favorite Bugs cartoons, loads of laugh out loud gags, and I think Mckimson did a better job getting the audience on Bugs' side at times.
His Porky vs Daffy series is probably some of his best work (especially his very first short "Daffy Doodles", even his final one "Daffy's Inn Trouble" is pretty funny) as well as obviously his Foghorn Leghorn series (the simplistically titled "The Foghorn Leghorn" short is probably the most notable, the loud mouthed shnook
).
edited 12th Feb '13 7:49:58 PM by Psi001
I think Jones was overall the best at really making the characters seem human. Clampett's the best for pure, over the top slapstick wackiness though.
Ironically though, my favorite WB short of all time was a Tashlin effort.
edited 15th Feb '13 2:44:32 PM by CTM
Easy street has no parking signs.
I think Jones was perhaps most apt at giving characters pathos, but generally only strict Butt Monkeys. His clear "winners vs losers" dynamic usually meant their was usually only one character with all the personality and sympathy cred (the Road Runner shorts are of course the extremity of it, but even in say, the Bugs Bunny shorts he comes off more as a Hero Antagonist to a far more pitiable villain). This was probably the reason he faltered a little with the Tom And Jerry series, which often tried to give both sides (and many supporting characters) sympathy value and interchanged who you could root for, though I'll give credit he did it to some effect.
I like Mc Kimson since he tends to subvert this more often, and try to give each and every character some amusing personality and pitiable qualities. The Porky vs Daffy shorts as well as the Foghorn Leghorn series are often good examples which revolve more around many characters rather than just one keeping the show going.
Not that some of Jones' filmography isn't ingenious because of it. There's no doubting the brilliance of stuff like "Duck Amuck". Add to that when Mckimson tried emulating Jones' work more he started to decline. His Road Runners were absolutely nothing on Jones'. I also think Mckimson was better giving characters loads of facets and versatility, while Jones was better to working with more formulaic personalities and using them to their fuller potential (compare their Daffys for example).
edited 15th Feb '13 8:00:50 PM by Psi001
Yeah, Jones is generally more grounded (relatively speaking) of the Looney Tunes interpretations which gives it a different kind of entertainment than the overall chaos that you'd see in Clampett. It seems that may be why Jones is arguably the most iconic Looney Tunes director.
I treat all living things equally. That is to say, I eat all living things
I know we've had similar discussions, but I thought we may as well make a proper thread for it.
Looney Tunes is infamous for it's Depending on the Writer dynamic and the overall depictions and formulas sometimes completely changing according to which staff was in charge. Many also created key characters and in some cases produced all if not all work involving them. Which ones to you produced the best results?
To name a few of the most notable:
edited 10th Feb '13 8:52:29 PM by Psi001