Carrotblanca

Carrotblanca
Directed byDouglas McCarthy
Spike Brandt
Tony Cervone
Story byTimothy Cahill
Julie McNally
Produced byTimothy Cahill
Julie McNally
Kathleen Helppie-Shipley
StarringJoe Alaskey
Bob Bergen
Greg Burson
Maurice LaMarche
Tress MacNeille
Edited byRick Gehr
Music byRichard Stone
Julie Bernstein (orchestration)
Animation byTony Cervone
Shawn Keller
Harry Sabin
Jeff Siergey
David S. Smith
Bill Snelgrove
Bill Waldman
Nelson Recinos
Phil Cummings
Bill Knoll
Kathleen Mauro
Doug Bombardier
Myung Miller
Ivan Camilli
Bill Mimms
Ed Gabriel
Herb Moore
George Goodchild
Myung Nam
David Hancock
Doug Ninneman
Mary Hanley
David Recinos
Sandy Henkin
Joe Roman
Myung Kang
Rodeny Tirey
Miyul Lee
Elyse Whittaker
Layouts byBryan Evans
Ed Hayney
Dave Kuhn
Backgrounds byPatricia Keppler
Tim Maloney
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • August 25, 1995 (1995-08-25)
Running time
8:03
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Carrotblanca is a 1995 Looney Tunes cartoon short. It was originally shown in theaters alongside The Amazing Panda Adventure (in North America) and The Pebble and the Penguin (internationally). It was subsequently released on video packaged with older Looney Tunes cartoons and was included in the special edition DVD. It was later released on HD DVD, Blu-ray, and iTunes releases of Casablanca, the film to which it is both a parody and an homage.

Plot

General Pandemonium gets a frantic call from Foghorn Leghorn saying that a secret German document has been stolen, and immediately heads for the Carrotblanca nightclub―the Cafe Au Lait Americain featuring "Eleanor Roosevelt's All girl revue" with his friend, Sam Sheepdog. At the nightclub, Tweety, the actual thief, convinces Mr. Bugs to take the document.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Slaszlo and his wife Kitty Ketty arrive at the club. Kitty attracts the unwanted attention of Captain Louis aka Pepe Le Pew, but she scratches him and throws him into the wall. Kitty, who is the ex-girlfriend of Bugs, asks Duck Sam to play her favorite song. The general suspects Slaszlo may know about the document and binds him in his office. Kitty pleads with Bugs to help Slaszlo out of this. Though Bugs is initially reluctant due to the fact that Kitty broke his heart, he goes to the General's office nevertheless and confuses the General himself into jail.

Slaszlo and Kitty escape on the plane for Toronto, New York City and Cucamonga, as Bugs watches them go... except that they find Pepe on the plane working as a steward. Louis asks Kitty for some tea, causing her to jump out of the plane in fright, seemingly without a parachute, landing right in front of Bugs. They kiss, then the parachute opens, covering them.

Cast

Cameo characters

Production notes

Unlike the previous modern Looney Tunes shorts, this short was not made by the Greg Ford/Terry Lennon team nor Chuck Jones Film Productions. It was produced by the Animaniacs writing team at Warner Bros. Feature Animation. Carrotblanca was the only Looney Tunes short produced by that group of writers and the Feature Animation division. The idea for the short came to be when Timothy Cahill and Julie McNally saw a 50th anniversary screening of Casablanca. The company that they worked for had the license to make Looney Tunes merchandise. They pitched the idea of the Looney Tunes characters doing a parody of Casablanca to the executives of Warner Bros. at the time, Bob Daly and Terry Semel. They were interested, and the short became the first Warner Bros. project that Cahill and McNally ever worked for writing and producing it. They worked with director Douglas McCarthy and composer Richard Stone, and as time went by, the project went from a TV special to an 8-minute short. Voices were provided by Greg Burson, Joe Alaskey, Maurice LaMarche, Bob Bergen, and Tress MacNeille. The short was animated by Tony Cervone, Shawn Keller, Harry Sabin, Jeff Siergey, David S. Smith, Bill Snelgrove, Bill Waldman, Nelson Recinos, Phil Cummings, Bill Knoll, Kathleen Mauro, Doug Bombardier, Myung Miller, Ivan Camilli, Bill Mimms, Ed Gabriel, Herb Moore, George Goodchild, Myung Nam, David Hancock, Doug Ninneman, Mary Hanley, David Recinos, Sandy Henkin, Joe Roman, Myung Kang, Rodeny Tirey, Miyul Lee, and Elyse Whittaker.[1]

The short involves nearly all the major Looney Tunes characters in roles from the film, including Bugs Bunny as Mr. Bugs, Daffy Duck as Sam Duck, Yosemite Sam as General Pandemonium, Tweety as Usmarte, Sylvester as Sylvester Slazo, Penelope Pussycat as Kitty Ketty (this short marks Penelope's first speaking role), and Pepé Le Pew as Captain Louis. Some characters use their real names, others the names of the characters in the original film, or parodic versions. Several minor Looney Tunes characters can be seen in the background (such as Pete Puma as a waiter wearing a kaftan and fez, Giovanni Jones and The Crusher as the maitre d' and doorman, Gossamer as a customer at a table, and Sam Sheepdog as General Pandemonium's driver assistant). Porky Pig was planned to have a speaking role in the short, but it was cut.[1]

Reception

Common Sense Media rated it 5 out of 5 stars.[2]

Home media

It was released on the DVD set "The Essential Bugs Bunny", and it was released on the special edition of Casablanca. It was later released on the Looney Tunes Parodies Collection DVD.

References

  1. ^ a b "EXCLUSIVE: The Making of Carrotblanca with Tim & Julie Cahill! Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries! Tweety's High Flying Adventure! Baby Looney Tunes!". Podbean. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  2. ^ Trandahl, Paul. "Carrotblanca". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 8 January 2022.