Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna and Barbera and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more now through young adult eyes, thanks to broader knowledge and taste and more interest in animation styles and various studios and directors.
Chuck Jones deserved, and still deserves, to be considered one of the best, most legendary and most influential animation directors/animators. While not quite as distinctive in directing style as other directors from the same era, in his prime era he was responsible for some of the best cartoons ever made and Mel Blanc was one of the greatest voice actors ever. While there may be wackier Looney Tunes characters than Pepe Le Pew, he was not an easy character to forget and stands out in a good way.
'Pepe Le Pew's Skunk Tales' represents him and Jones really well. It is a collection of cartoons and doesn't have as such a linking story, but that's not a bad thing. While it is a very good cartoon, 'Much Ado About Nutting' doesn't belong in the collection due to being irrelevant to Pepe and being different in terms of basic tone.
In all the Pepe cartoons however, the animation is bright and colourful with finesse in the drawing and elegant backgrounds. The music is whimsical, lively and beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, having sensuality and zaniness which fits perfectly. It not only adds to the action but enhances it.
All the cartoons are very amusing to hilarious, 'For Scent-imental Reasons' being particularly good, with witty dialogue, an elegant, sexy and sometimes racy atmosphere and imaginatively timed and animated sight gags. The stories are formulaic but are seldom dull and always interesting. Pepe is funny and amorous as well as being distinctive in character, the Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer influences are very noticeable, while Fabrette is cute.
Mel Blanc once again shows a remarkable and unmatched ability to voicing multiple characters and making them individual from each other. June Foray's contribution is also used well.
Overall, very enjoyable, nothing stinks here. 8/10 Bethany Cox
