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Releases Reviewed:

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The Cartoon Craze series is a cheap sampling of various cartoons. I don't even know if you can find them in stores any more, but since I had one on hand I thought I would give some details because I haven't seen many of the cartoons available anywhere else (at least not on DVD).

These releases were found in the $1 DVD bins back several years ago. I can't recall what the other ones had to offer (evidently it was nothing that interested me at the time), but vol. 14 is centered mostly on Bugs Bunny with some other 1-shots thrown in and one odd one featuring Baby Huey that is not a part of the Looney Tunes series.

One thing that makes this collection worth a look is that it contains some toons that have yet to be released on any of the fancier DVD sets. Most notable is “All This and Rabbit Stew” which is one of the infamous “Censored 11” and is the only banned Bugs Bunny cartoon. While there was a rumor that WB was going to officially release all of those on DVD, as of this writing it hasn't happened as far as I can find.

The toon is public domain and so is probably available online or in other unofficial collections, but this is the only DVD presentation of it I've seen. It and others like “Fresh Hare,” which are sometimes censored even in video releases, appear to be completely uncut on this release. It's worth mentioning that these toons are banned or censored because they feature caricatures of black people that could be taken as offensive.

Final Recommendation:

I was surprised to discover that “Ding Dong Daddy” is not included in any of the Golden collections. I loved this one as a kid because of the silliness of a dog falling in love with a statue. That alone is worth me hanging onto this bargain bin disc. Overall the selection of cartoons on this set is much better than I expected for a bargain bin release. All of them have some merit even though I don't much care for “Robin Hood Makes Good,” and the Baby Huey short is out of place.

This is a single disc DVD.

Video:

1.33:

The box says that these are “digitally remastered.” The quality actually varies a lot. “All This and Rabbit Stew” is particularly rough with messy audio, a washed-out image, an orange boarder through part of it, and other quality issues. Some of the others look and sound much better but still don't have the level of restored quality that the big WB releases do.

Audio:

2.0 Dolby:

The package says the audio is in stereo but even the Golden collections only offer 2.0 mono so don't get too excited.

Packaging:

The case is a thin plastic clamshell but otherwise nothing grand.

The interface is simple. It's pretty much a bare bones presentation.

Extras:

-Previews: The only extra is a showcase of other titles from the DVD company.

Episodes:

(guide)

There are 8 episodes ranging from 6-9 minutes in length mostly from the late 30's to early 40's with the odd Baby Huey one being from the 50's. These all play as one presentation by default with each toon being 1 chapter.

Other Editions:

There are no other editions.

Final Thoughts:

If you want cartoons in the best possible quality this isn't worth your efforts, but if you're looking for a few elusive gems you might want to look over my episode guide.