CHARIOTS OF FUR (1994) is a great example of the inexperienced CJFP artists' prowess, as they have recreated almost perfectly the Golden Age cartoon style. It is not perfect in this cartoon, since it's their first cartoon, but in SUPERIOR DUCK (1996) you can't tell the difference. This cartoon is equal to TO BEEP OR NOT TO BEEP (1963), which is the last Road Runner cartoon made at Termite Terrace. The rest were made independently. That's a tribute to the young artists at Chuck Jones Film Productions. Jones taught them well.
13 Reviews
One of the better ones
rbverhoef25 April 2004
'Chariots of Fur' is a Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote cartoon and it was released in 1994. Although it is made so many years after the others it fits perfectly in the series and in my opinion this is one of the better and more funny ones. Coyote tries to catch Road Runner with simple bird seed, a fake road and even a Halloween cactus costume.
Although most gags were pretty predictable they made me smile a lot. The jokes that were written on the screen worked very well. The little interlude where the Coyote plays the harp is brilliant, that ends with a perfectly timed gag. The animation is better than normal, which is not strange for a cartoon from the nineties, and the music fits that animation wonderfully. A great cartoon.
Although most gags were pretty predictable they made me smile a lot. The jokes that were written on the screen worked very well. The little interlude where the Coyote plays the harp is brilliant, that ends with a perfectly timed gag. The animation is better than normal, which is not strange for a cartoon from the nineties, and the music fits that animation wonderfully. A great cartoon.
In this political satire . . .
oscaralbert26 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
. . . Warner Bros. does its best to animate the 1992 presidential election. At one point during CHARIOTS OF FUR, Wile E. Coyote (a.k.a., Dogius Ignorami) is presented as a literal Western Bush, an obvious representation of transplanted "Texan" George H.W. Bush. Later, Mr. Coyote unzips and discards his prickly Bush costume, disgustedly kicking the box in which it came. This, of course, is meant to reflect how America was happy to pull H.W. from the ballot box in 1988, but couldn't get rid of him fast enough four years later. When W.E. Coyote unfurls his "Acme Instant Road" (to Ruin), Warner Bros. is simply reenacting how CIA chief-turned-Veep-candidate H.W.'s "October Surprise" pulled the rug out from under President Jimmy in 1980, plunging America off a cliff of no return. The "Acme Giant Mouse Trap" is used by Warner in CHARIOTS OF FUR to evoke memories of BEDTIME FOR BONZO star Ronald Reagan, H.W.'s eight-year White House Boss. President Bill, of course, was famed for his ability to run laps around the U.S. Secret Service, which Warner contends helped America separate the Wheat from the Chaff.
Last & not least of the Road Runners
Spleen29 March 2002
The last Road Runner cartoon directed by Chuck Jones - hence the last real Road Runner cartoon - was "To Beep or Not to Beep", released in 1963. This one is now truly the last. It's really just more of the same. But that's the wonder of it: that after thirty-one years, the old studio crew long since dissolved, managed to create a Road Runner cartoon that neatly fits in with the rest of the series and is just as good - in fact, superior to most (the very best one, if you ask me, was "Lickety-Splat", released 1961).
Two things stand out. One is the music. Lacking Carl Stalling and his ability to dart unobtrusively from one half-familiar tune to the next, Jones has leaned heavily on one piece: the jesters' dance from Bedrich Smetana's opera, "The Bartered Bride", which is mostly unedited and entirely apt. What I didn't realise until I took another look at some of the older Road Runners recently is that Stalling had used Smetana's music all the time in the Road Runner series, whenever he wanted to convey speed and had no particular reason to convey anything else. I'm glad this music was allowed for once to dominate the cartoon. (There are, you'll notice, almost no sound effects.)
Secondly, there's an absence of what I'd call conceptual Road Runner humour. Here's an example (from another cartoon, I forget which): We see a long, elaborate, winding wooden gutter down the side of a small mountain. The camera starts at the bottom and slowly pans up. At the top is the Coyote, with one of those black spherical bombs. He lights the fuse. BANG. The bomb explodes. The gag is over. The whole rickety gutter apparatus was irrelevant. This is probably the funniest joke of its kind, and even so it's a bit of a cheat; you can get away with only so many gags like this, and no more, and they'd BETTER be this good to be worthy of being included at all (and sometimes, they weren't). The best Road Runner jokes take place WITHIN the world of the cartoon, and involve the Coyote being defeated by the very energy he was attempting to harness. "Chariots of Fur" is more classical than most other Road Runner cartoons, hence better.
Two things stand out. One is the music. Lacking Carl Stalling and his ability to dart unobtrusively from one half-familiar tune to the next, Jones has leaned heavily on one piece: the jesters' dance from Bedrich Smetana's opera, "The Bartered Bride", which is mostly unedited and entirely apt. What I didn't realise until I took another look at some of the older Road Runners recently is that Stalling had used Smetana's music all the time in the Road Runner series, whenever he wanted to convey speed and had no particular reason to convey anything else. I'm glad this music was allowed for once to dominate the cartoon. (There are, you'll notice, almost no sound effects.)
Secondly, there's an absence of what I'd call conceptual Road Runner humour. Here's an example (from another cartoon, I forget which): We see a long, elaborate, winding wooden gutter down the side of a small mountain. The camera starts at the bottom and slowly pans up. At the top is the Coyote, with one of those black spherical bombs. He lights the fuse. BANG. The bomb explodes. The gag is over. The whole rickety gutter apparatus was irrelevant. This is probably the funniest joke of its kind, and even so it's a bit of a cheat; you can get away with only so many gags like this, and no more, and they'd BETTER be this good to be worthy of being included at all (and sometimes, they weren't). The best Road Runner jokes take place WITHIN the world of the cartoon, and involve the Coyote being defeated by the very energy he was attempting to harness. "Chariots of Fur" is more classical than most other Road Runner cartoons, hence better.
Not only does Wile E. Coyote resort to an Acme Co. giant mouse trap . . .
cricket308 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
. . . but he also whips out an Acme Instant Road kit, an Acme cactus costume and some Acme Lightning Bolts during another bird-less roadrunner hunt pictured in CHARIOTS OF FUR. Of course, the moment for which the world's been waiting is that in which Mr. Coyote unpackages his Acme Military Style Assault Weapon. Many recent reports about M. S. A.'s in the news have proven that you do not need to be Billy the Kid (or even Elmer Fudd) to bag the goods with such a semi-automatic shooting iron. Certainly a firearm arm that sprays faster than Annie Oakley can aim likely would change Wile's hunting outcomes, and end his decades-long frustration. Therefore, CHARIOTS OF FUR should serve to remind viewers to support their local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps).
Hey, I paid full price to see it
craigjclark21 September 2001
When this short was released in theaters it was unfortunately attached to the horrid Macaulay Culkin vehicle "Richie Rich" (one can hardly call that piece of cinematic dreck a film). Well, I wanted to see "Chariots" and so did a couple of my friends, so we bought tickets for a matinee showing and sat back and enjoyed six minutes of pitch-perfect Coyote-Road Runner action. Then, once the credits rolled, we got up, declared that we had seen what we came to see, and walked out, to the bewilderment of most of the rest of the audience. It was a most satisfying exit, and a most satisfying film. Would that it were available on DVD.
A great Roadrunner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon
TheLittleSongbird18 September 2011
While rather on the short side, Chariots of Fur is a great and very memorable cartoon that reinforces why I love Looney Tunes so much. The animation is very lively, with the character designs staying true yet are more animated and the backgrounds more fluid rather than the cheap and lifeless backgrounds that hindered some of the later Looney Tunes efforts. The music is energetic and compliments the gags very nicely. Speaking of the gags, they are very well-timed and funny while never feeling drawn-out. The characters still impress, Coyote is as cunning as ever, but Roadrunner having more character here was the real surprise in my opinion. All in all, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Flawed but one of the better later Looney Tunes shorts
utgard147 September 2015
The last Road Runner/Coyote short to be directed by the great Chuck Jones, released in theaters along with the Macaulay Culkin movie Richie Rich. I'm always wary of the later Looney Tunes cartoons made decades after the classic ones. They are usually forgettable at best and sometimes outright terrible. They never have the same level of quality craftsmanship that went into the older shorts. This one's no exception on that front but it is surprisingly watchable for a later effort. That's probably due to Jones' involvement as he crafted many of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, particularly the Road Runner/Coyote ones. Among the better gags here are the ACME lightning bolts and the cactus costume. The biggest weakness is the audio. The music is irritatingly generic and probably canned. The sound effects in some places are bad, sounding disconnected in a way that just doesn't feel right. Despite some problems, it is watchable and even amusing in places. Fans of the old cartoons will likely see the flaws more than others.
Last Short of Chuck Jones!
ShelbyTMItchell14 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This would be the final short of Chuck Jones career before he passed onto Cartoon heaven. As once again the Roadrunner continues to keep giving Wile E Coyote such a fit.
The Surgeon General warning of chasing after Roadrunners can be dangerous to your health as Wile E laughs it off. But Roadrunner comes up behind him and Beep Beeps him! Afterward it says, it is not so cool to laugh at the Surgeon General. Extremely funny there! Wile E needs to stop buying Acme stuff. As they are failing each and every single time. But he won't learn now will he.
Really funny and great send off by Chuck Jones!
The Surgeon General warning of chasing after Roadrunners can be dangerous to your health as Wile E laughs it off. But Roadrunner comes up behind him and Beep Beeps him! Afterward it says, it is not so cool to laugh at the Surgeon General. Extremely funny there! Wile E needs to stop buying Acme stuff. As they are failing each and every single time. But he won't learn now will he.
Really funny and great send off by Chuck Jones!
Looks like the magic was gone
Horst_In_Translation7 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Chariots of Fur" is an American 7-minute cartoon from 1994, so this one has its 25th anniversary now in 2019. It is a more recent addition to the universe of Roadrunner and Coyote and was made by Chuck Jones, who was already in his 80s back then and Paul Julian, the original Road Runner returned for this one as well and he was also 80. May the duo rest in peace. I was probably never the really biggest Road Runner fan (despite liking Coyote kind of) I must admit, but still there are some I like and some of the ACME gadgets are just impossible to find interesting, even for somebody like me with virtually zero interest in technical stuff. But here it was all just disappointing. The visual side was okay overall, but the specific scenes and as always it is a collection of some very short films in one rather short film were mostly underwhelming. The ideas behind them weren't great either. I mean Coyote hiding in a fake cactus to catch Road Runner, really? Why would Road Runner stop and even if he does, the moment he sees the cactus moving or Coyote getting out of his costume, he is gone immediately anyway. Most of it makes little sense and it feels Coyote has gotten a bit senile in terms of the ideas he picks up on. They took some retro stuff too like the big rock falling from up high on Coyote and he waving the sign is something we could have seen exactly this way in a 50s or 60s cartoon too. Overall, however, it was fairly disappointing and I give this one a thumbs-down. It's probably only worth seeing for curiosity reasons by those very boiggestg RR fans. Or maybe these are the ones who should not watch it most of all? I am not sure. So I guess you can skip this one. It is nowhere near as good as it is fast. Not recommended.
One of the best of Chuck Jones
TcH-32 January 1999
Jones' farewell to the Coyote and the Road Runner
Rectangular_businessman10 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Apparently Warner has shelved the upcoming Looney Tunes movie Coyote vs. Acme, despite it being already finished and having a positive initial audience reaction.
A shame really, because the premise of that movie seemed fun, and it was one of the very few movies I was looking forward this year. Is frankly shameful the way in which Warner treats now one of its most beloved properties, and the way in which suits decide to discard the hard work of an entire film crew as part of a tax-off feels like a cruel joke, showing a terrible precedent in film business, where the labor from artists is completely disregarded in an insulting manner.
Entertainment industries have no right of treating their workers as mere tools they can capriciously dispose. I honestly hate how keeping films in a vault for whatever reason seems to slowly become a new trend in modern Hollywood.
Anyway, this 90s short was the first Coyote and the Road Runner theatrical animation made since 1980, showing how the formula kept fresh even after all the time passed.
The direction by Chuck Jones had a lot to do with its charming effectiveness. Unsurprisingly, considering he co-created these characters.
This also will be a farewell to those characters by Jones. A fun and sweet farewell.
A shame really, because the premise of that movie seemed fun, and it was one of the very few movies I was looking forward this year. Is frankly shameful the way in which Warner treats now one of its most beloved properties, and the way in which suits decide to discard the hard work of an entire film crew as part of a tax-off feels like a cruel joke, showing a terrible precedent in film business, where the labor from artists is completely disregarded in an insulting manner.
Entertainment industries have no right of treating their workers as mere tools they can capriciously dispose. I honestly hate how keeping films in a vault for whatever reason seems to slowly become a new trend in modern Hollywood.
Anyway, this 90s short was the first Coyote and the Road Runner theatrical animation made since 1980, showing how the formula kept fresh even after all the time passed.
The direction by Chuck Jones had a lot to do with its charming effectiveness. Unsurprisingly, considering he co-created these characters.
This also will be a farewell to those characters by Jones. A fun and sweet farewell.
Some modern touches don't work but otherwise it is as funny as it ever was
bob the moo25 February 2004
In his ongoing quest to eat a decent meal just once, Coyote is still hunting down the roadrunner, despite a warning from the surgeon general that it can damage your health. Undeterred, Coyote employs bird seed, giant mouse traps (or traps for giant mice?) and springs in an attempt to catch the tricky bird.
Usually the modern versions of Warner Brother cartoons are a bit weak, and there's times where the modern touches are weak here, but on the whole it is on a par with the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons of back in the day. The plot is the same as it always was and has the usual stuff involving acme devices and big falls. Some of the modern references such as the surgeon general and such don't really fit in but are still relatively funny.
The characters are a little more animated and lively than they used to be; Coyote is a bit funnier than he often can be, but it is Roadrunner who has more of a character to him that usual. This is not to say that they go beyond the comments on the signs and such, but it is still a more of a character cartoon than some of the others I've seen.
Overall this will not win over any people who dislike the basic Roadrunner formula, but it is pretty loyal to the originals in terms of laughs, action and characters.
Usually the modern versions of Warner Brother cartoons are a bit weak, and there's times where the modern touches are weak here, but on the whole it is on a par with the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons of back in the day. The plot is the same as it always was and has the usual stuff involving acme devices and big falls. Some of the modern references such as the surgeon general and such don't really fit in but are still relatively funny.
The characters are a little more animated and lively than they used to be; Coyote is a bit funnier than he often can be, but it is Roadrunner who has more of a character to him that usual. This is not to say that they go beyond the comments on the signs and such, but it is still a more of a character cartoon than some of the others I've seen.
Overall this will not win over any people who dislike the basic Roadrunner formula, but it is pretty loyal to the originals in terms of laughs, action and characters.
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