MOVIE REVIEW : A Salute to ‘Magical’ Animator

In “The Magical World of Chuck Jones,” George Daugherty, the creator of the popular “Bugs Bunny on Broadway” show, offers a filmic birthday card to the great Warner Bros. animation director who recently turned 80.

During his 60-year career, Jones made the Pepe LePew and Road Runner-Coyote shorts, as well as many of the best cartoons with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, et al. The winner of three Oscars and a Peabody Award and the subject of tributes at the British Film Institute, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and film festivals around the world, Jones has become something of a national institution in recent years.

In “Magical World,” (opening today at Mann Westwood), a gaggle of celebrities, including Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Steve Guttenberg and Joe Dante, pay tribute to Jones and the influence his films have had on their work, although most of them regretfully note the impossibility of duplicating his brand of cartoon humor in a live-action film.

Director Ron Howard laughingly confesses he’s tried to re-create some of Jones’ visual gags. “I’ll refer to one of the cartoons . . . and sort of say, ‘This is what we have to do!’ And then I’ll get started staging it and I’ll realize that we just cannot pull it off. We just cannot do it as well as it’s been done already.”

The encomiums are interspersed with clips from some of the funniest cartoons ever made (“One Froggy Evening,” “What’s Opera, Doc?” “Long-Hair Hare,” “A Bear for Punishment,” “Zoom and Board,” etc.). Although long on praise, the film is short on substance. Jones’ oeuvre includes more than 300 theatrical shorts, several television specials, three animated features and a documentary. “Magical World” doesn’t really trace his development or how he worked, although the interviews suggest what sets his cartoons apart from the films of the other Warners directors.

These caveats aside, the film will delight Jones’ fans, who are legion. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening’s mixture of respect and irreverence sums up the attitude of those fans. After praising Jones’ razor-sharp timing and his ability to entertain audiences of all ages, Groening explains that he learned many “life lessons” from Jones’ Road Runner-Coyote series, especially, “Never ever order anything from a mail-order company called ACME.”

‘The Magical World of Chuck Jones’

A Magical World Pictures and IF/X Productions presentation of a George Daugherty film, released by Warner Bros. Distributing Co. Director George Daugherty. Producers David Ka Lik Wong and Daugherty. Executive producer Valerie Kausen. Cinematographer Peter Bonilla. Editor Peter E. Berger, A.C.E. Music Cameron Patrick. Sound Robb Wenner. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG (for occasional swear words).