JohnHowardReid Pepe Le Pew, Wild Cat, and the zoo-keeper.Director: CHARLES M. JONES. Story: Michael Maltese. Animation: Ben Washam, Lloyd Vaughan, Richard Thompson, Abe Levitow, Ken Harris. Lay-outs: Maurice Noble. Backgrounds: Phil De Guard. Voice characterizations: Mel Blanc. Music director: Carl Stalling. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Edward Selzer.Copyright 27 July 1953 (in notice: 1952) by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros "Looney Tunes" cartoon. U.S. release: 11 July 1953. 7 minutes.COMMENT: One of my favorite Pepes, this one is set against a marvellously stylized art deco background of the 1900 Paris Exposition. Our very introduction to Pepe here is a classic variation as he saunters on to the garden scene singing, "Can You Kiss a Pretty Girl, Pepe Boy, Pepe Boy, Can You Kiss a Pretty Girl, Charming Pepe." Director Jones uses an unusual number of inventive high angles to punch his visual points home, as our masochistic little hero chases a determinedly antagonistic wild cat from one delightfully period-flavored set-up to a final flight in an ever-ascending balloon. Even for non-Pepe fans, the artistic charm of this outing must surely prove irresistible.

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . do not knock it," Henry the Skunk-of-a-runaway-husband-and-dad (a.k.a., Pepe Le Pew) says to conclude WILD OVER YOU. Obviously, this punch line is meaningless without knowing what the "it" is. What exactly is "it" here? "It" can be summed up in two words: Rough Sex. Pepe has tried to "close the deal" five times with an escaped wild cat who has painted itself up as a skunk to avoid recapture. (Since Pepe is nose blind, he never quails at his opportunities for inter-species trysts.) The Warner Bros. animators portray these five attempted rapes as cartoon whirlwinds--the representation you might expect if Bugs Bunny tried to get it on with the Tasmanian Devil. Pepe is somewhat ambivalent as he emerges banged up from his first four scrapes with the wildcat, but in the middle of his fifth attack (what he would call "Shooting Zee fish in Zee Barrel," as the pair are crammed into the basket of a rising hot air balloon), sadomasochist Pepe decides it's all good.

utgard14 Fun Pepé Le Pew short from the great Chuck Jones. It takes place during the Paris Exposition of 1900, where a wildcat has escaped from a zoo exhibit. The cat paints herself to look like a skunk to avoid being captured. If you've ever seen a Pepé Le Pew cartoon before, you know where this is going. Pepé chases the cat and puts the moves on her. The twist this time is that the wildcat rejects Pepé violently, which only seems to turn the skunk on more. This Sadomasochistic angle has made the short more noteworthy for some than your average Pepé cartoon. As always, the incomparable Mel Blanc is terrific as Pepé. The animation is colorful with well-drawn characters and backgrounds. The gags are funny with the usual French puns we all love from these shorts. It's not the best Pepé cartoon but it is entertaining.

Angel-Marie Before I start this review, I would like to point out two things:1) There are/could be spoilers in this review.2) This review is dedicated to the men behind Pepe Le Pew, Michael Maltese (who created Pepe's fractured French and died in 1981), Mel Blanc (who lent a very realistic Charles Boyer impression to Pepe and died in 1989), and the last of the great WB animators, Chuck Jones (who created the character and died this year). May God rest both of your souls, you oh-so-talented men. Okay, on to the review...To the eye of someone who still thinks that Looney Tunes are children's fare, this cartoon is nothing more than your typical Pepe cartoon (cat gets painted, Pepe mistakes the cat for a skunk, Pepe seduces cat, cat runs off, hilarity ensues until the end). To the eye of someone who knows that Looney Tunes cartoons are not kid-friendly, this cartoon has a twist from the usual Pepe routine. Instead of the cat running off, the cat (here shown as a wildcat from a French zoo) claws Pepe half to death whenever he's near her.This unabashed cartoon made my side hurt the first time I watched it (and proved that Looney Tunes is not for children). I was never this overcome with laughter since "Cow and Chicken" (and believe me, their innuendo could make a Le Pew cartoon AND a Simpsons episode blush). Cartoon Network does air this somewhat frequently. GRADE: A+