"Great Performances" Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens - A Life in Animation (2000)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Margaret Selby

Writers:

Paul Bacon (writer)
Greg Ford (writer)

TV Series:

"Great Performances" (1972)

Original Air Date:

21 November 2000 (Season 29, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Musical | Romance

Plot:

The life and works of a legendary animator.

Plot Keywords:

Behind The Scenes | Classical Music | Art | Cartoon | Animation Filmmaking

Cast

Ken Burns	...	Himself
Linda Jones Clough	...	Herself
Joe Dante	...	Himself
Roger Ebert	...	Himself
June Foray	...	Herself
Stan Freberg	...	Himself
Robert Givens	...	Himself
Eric Goldberg	...	Himself
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Herself
Matt Groening	...	Himself
Ron Howard	...	Himself
Chuck Jones	...	Himself
Marian Jones	...	Herself
Norton Juster	...	Himself
Glen Keane	...	Himself
John Lasseter	...	Himself
Leonard Maltin	...	Himself
Roger Mayer	...	Himself
Lorne Michaels	...	Himself
Rob Minkoff	...	Himself
André Previn	...	Himself
John Schulman	...	Himself
Martha Sigall	...	Herself
Steven Spielberg	...	Himself
Robin Williams	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

CAMI Spectrum

Movie Connections:

Features The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965)

A DVD worth having for any fan of animation

Chuck Jones is, without a doubt, one of the truly great names in animation. This documentary is a worthy tribute to his life. It incorporates numerous retrospectives and observations from many of his contemporaries and colleagues as well as from Jones himself. There are two things that I liked in particular about this film: (1) It's ability to convey (and teach) the importance and role of Chuck Jones as a director and the roles of the various animators, writers, and technicians who worked with him; and (2) the humility of the man himself. I was struck by how many times Jones took care to point out where he was not the sole creator of a character, or what the contributions of his colleagues were. Through this humility shines a brilliance and creativity that brought us many wonderful hours of comedy and animation in the middle decades of the 20th century.

The DVD version of this documentary includes several worthwhile extras. Two of Jones' best animated shorts, "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century" and "Feed the Kitty" are included in their entirety (clips are featured in the main documentary). There are also "pencil test" versions of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Mississippi Hare" that show just what a work-in-process looked like. And there is a tutorial from Jones himself on some of the tricks of the trade, a behind the scenes view that was fun to see.

I give this a 9 out of 10: A must-see for any fan of animation.