Whizzard of Ow is a 2003 Looney Tunes short directed by Bret Haaland.
Title[]
The title is a play on the 1939 MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz.
Plot[]
A magical battle occurs between two different stereotypes of sorcerers, a short Gandalf-like wizard that holds the ACME Book of Magic in one hand and a staff in another, and an elegant but sombre Doctor Strange-like warlock with a black cat on his shoulder. They zap each other until they inadvertently kill themselves in a final energy blast.
Their possessions, escape unharmed but fall over the coyote, just as he was about to catch Road Runner, causing considerable pain to him, especially the cat, who viciously scratches his face out of fear. Coyote notices the book of magic and becomes delightfully happy, as he now has a new weapon against Road Runner.
- The first spell that Coyote tries is to turn the black cat into a feral beast. He succeeds, and the cat transforms into a black panther. His beast proves to be too feral, and it quickly slices his belly into strips, fading Coyote like a balloon.
- Coyote buys an ACME flying broomstick and, after some trial and error, begins to chase Road Runner through air. However, when he enter in a gloomy tunnel, Coyote mistakes his beeps (that were temporarily deeper than normal) with a horn of an approaching truck and suddenly changes his direction to the sky, only to be hit by two comets and get his broom "out of gas". He calls for help on his cell phone but gets a recording telling him that all the operators were busy. Then air resistance incinerates the phone. After a long drop, Coyote manages to stop his broomstick in the middle of air and lands safely, only for Road Runner to scare him from his back with his beeps off a cliff and leaving the poor Coyote to suffer gravity.
- In his second spell, Coyote tries to turn himself into a giant, but much to his chagrin, the spell only affects his head, whose weight crushes his own body.
- Coyote uses invisible ink to make a bomb transparent and disguise it like a crystal ball in order lure an unsuspecting Road Runner to his death. However, the fake crystal ball actually works, and Road Runner sees Coyote's future where he is caught in middle of a huge explosion...a future that quickly turns into reality when the bomb rolls straight to him.
- In his third spell, Coyote learns levitation and uses his classical "seeds trap" to temporarily stop Road Runner and smash him with a large rock. The rock does not fall under his command, giving enough time for Road Runner to finish his lunch and leave. After several unsuccessful attempts to makes the rock fall, Coyote leaves in disgust, only for the rock to follow and crush him.
- In his last spell, Coyote once again tries to shapeshift the cat into another creature, and this time, into a pegasus to once again chase Road Runner though air, but they inadvertently fly trough a load of poisonous snakes (prompting the pegasus to use the Coyote as a stick to get rid from them), and to make matters worse, the pegasus quickly turns into a flying carpet, and much to Coyote's anguish, they fly straight to a reserve of scorpions and to a field of cacti. The carpet is then turned into a monitor lizard (who promptly devours his snout), a lawnmower, and then into a white shark, and he and the Coyote land in a lake where the Coyote is viciously mauled by his familiar.
It turns out that the cat's uncontrollable transformations were Road Runner's fault, who found the book of magic and decided to test its powers on the Coyote. He then turns a mailbox into a gracious and beautiful female roadrunner and the two leave, walking and holding "hands", while the Coyote is attacked by the shark.
Availability[]
(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Back in Action
Looney Tunes Back in Action
(2004) DVD
Looney Tunes Back in Action, Bonus Disc (Australia only)
Looney Tunes Back in Action, Bonus Disc (Australia only)
(2011) DVD
Road Runner
Road Runner
(2013) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 3
Looney Tunes Super Stars 3-Pack, Disc 3
(2014) DVD
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 3
Looney Tunes Super Stars Family Multi-Feature, Disc 3
Streaming[]
HBO Max (2021 - 2022)
Notes[]
- This short is similar in concept to Robert McKimson's Road Runner cartoon "Sugar and Spies", as both shorts feature the Coyote using multiple attempts to catch the Road Runner with one gadget which he stumbles across when chasing the Road Runner, except that instead Wile E. receiving a spy kit here he receives a magic book from ACME corporation. In addition, the opening scene of Wile E. coming close to catching the Road Runner and receiving the ACME Book of Magic out of nowhere is very similar to the opening scene from "Sugar and Spies".
- This cartoon was originally scheduled for theatrical release, but due to the box-office bomb of Looney Tunes Back in Action, this plan was aborted and the cartoon was instead included as a special feature on the movie DVD. Prior to being released on DVD, it premiered at Wal-Mart stores. This is also included on the Looney Tunes: Back in Action Blu-ray release as a bonus feature.
- This Coyote and Roadrunner short is notable for being the only one so far to use the real taxonomic names Geococcyx californianus (Greater Roadrunner) and Canis latrans (Coyote) instead of the usual pseudo-Latin names.
- This is the first Coyote/Road Runner short produced in 16:9 widescreen. It was also the final Coyote/Road Runner theatrical (intended) Looney Tunes short produced using hand-drawn animation.
- In a homage to the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Lumber Jack-Rabbit", the WB shield that normally zooms forward at the start of the "bullseye" opening logos overshoots its mark and nearly crashes into the screen before quickly pulling back to its usual position. This would become the norm for most new Looney Tunes material for the next eight years.
- This was the first Coyote/Road Runner short produced after the death of the characters' creator Chuck Jones.
- When Wile E. Coyote gets scared off a cliff by Road Runner, the canyon background seen during his fall is a redrawn version of the "Hopalong Casualty" canyon.
- For unknown reasons, this short is not available on Boomerang. It has also never aired on Cartoon Network in the USA. It made its debut on television in 2021 when it aired on MeTV. It aired on Boomerang for the first time on December 31, 2023, as part of a marathon of final episodes.
Gallery[]
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