Perhaps one of the greatest TV-age cartoons ever conceived.
10
"Perfect"
Before I begin, I'm like many of the reviewers of this show on this site, this is one that I grew up other , so it's easy for me to fall into the trap of saying "90's cartoons were some much better than the $#!@ that kids get now". So to see for myself, I rediscovered the show on iTunes after seeing it 10 years before. iTunes has the first 25 episodes available for $29.99. After watching several episodes, I was extremely impressed with what I saw: off-the-wall slapstick humor mixed with rubber hose animation, sophisticated wit, and stellar stories and actors that suited both kids and adults.
The series was created by a guy named Tom Ruegger. Rugger was a cartoonist that earlier created shows like "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" and the also stellar, but less original "Tiny Toons Adventures". By the time "Animaniacs!" came along, Rugger with fellow writters Sherri Stoner and Paul Ruggs pitched the idea to Warner Bros TV and Steven Speilburg. Steve loved what he saw and agreed to help produce the cartoon by filling in as executive producer. Since Spielburg seemed to understand what Ruegger wanted with the show, he was loose with producing the show, similar to Leon Schlesinger did with the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. This is likely why the show also got away some some "adult" humor in the show.
The animation in the show is actually different for each episode because there were eight different animation companies from five countries oversaw the animation of "Animaniacs!". Four were from South Korea, one in New Zealand, one in Japan, one in America, and one in Hungary. Out of all the studios, Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the one from Japan, had the highest quality animation. They were responsible for the opening and closing credits of the show and also animated cartoons such as "Hooked on a Ceiling" and "Pavlov's Mice". With Shinsha, the characters were solid, yet sometimes had movements similar to the rubber hose characters of the 1930's. Overall, all the animation was appealing, but in my opinion, Shinsha had the best animation in the whole show.
The music is another wonderful thing about the show.Animaniacs was a very musical cartoon, with every episode featuring at least one original score. The idea for an original musical score in every episode came from Steven Spielberg.[12] Animaniacs used a 35-piece orchestra, and was scored by a team of composers, led by supervising composer Richard Stone. The composing team included Steve and Julie Bernstein, Carl Johnson, Gordon Goodwin and Tim Kelly. The use of the large orchestra in modern Warner Bros. animation began with Animaniacs predecessor, "Tiny Toon Adventures", but Spielberg pushed for its use even more in "Animaniacs". Although the outcome was a very expensive show to produce, "the sound sets us apart from everyone else in animation," said Jean MacCurdy, the executive in charge of production for the series. The orchestration is similar to Carl Stalling's work from Looney Tunes and usually had at least one original score for each episode. It's by far, better than most other cartoons from that era.
The voice acting was also exceptional. Rob Paulsen (Yakko, Dr. Scratchansniff, Pinky) and Tress MacNielle (Dot, various characters) had also worked with Ruegger's staff on "Tiny Toons". The third Warner, Jess Harnell (Wakko), was reletivly new to the game, but did very well with his John Lennon voice. Producer and writer Sherri Stoner voiced Slappy the Squirrel. Stoner said that when she gave an impression of what the voice would be to Spielberg, he said she should fill the role. The voice actress who played the voice of Rita, Bernadette Peters, is a Tony Award-winning musical theatre actress, and Romano herself wanted her for the role. Other voice actors included Maurice LaMarche, the voice of the Brain, Squit, and the belching segments "The Great Wakkorotti" (Jess Harnell said that he himself is commonly mistaken for the role); Frank Welker, the voice of Runt; and Jeff Bennett. Tom Ruegger's three sons also played roles on the series. Nathan Ruegger voiced Skippy Squirrel, nephew to Slappy, throughout the duration of the series; Luke Ruegger voiced The Flame in historical segments on "Animaniacs"; and Cody Ruegger voiced Birdie from "Wild Blue Yonder".
Some critics like fellow 90's animator John Krikfalusi (Ren and Stimpy) have called it "an imitation cartoon" or "horrible-looking". Honestly, the show had clear construction forms to it's characters, as well as silhouettes and lines of action. I think what gets them is that since the show is an homage to the classic cartoons of the 40's ad 50's, they don't see it as original. I have my own opinions and refuse to go down to thier level, so I'm not going to go into depth on this one.
To bring this long review to a close, "Animaniacs" was a very excellent and close to perfect as a cartoon variety show can get. It's a shame that this golden show isn't broadcasted on television anymore. At least there are three DVD's for all of us that grew up with this gem can enjoy with our own kids for many years to come.