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in: Walt Disney films, 2014 films, The Wacky World of Tex Avery,
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The Wacky World of Tex Avery (film)

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The Wacky World of Tex Avery is a Canadian-American flash animated theatrical film based on the television series of the same title. It was released on March 7, 2014, through Telcima SA, Mercury Filmworks, 9 Story Entertainment, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and DHX Media. The movie was named after Tex Avery, a cartoonist who is most famous for his work at Warner Bros. and MGM. The creator Brody Dowler describes the film, just like the television series, as "homage to the brilliant, hilarious and groundbreaking animator Tex Avery and the wonderful squash-and-stretch cartoons of his era". The series was an attempt to capture the true aspect of the genius of Tex Avery and his classic characters such as Droopy, George & Junior & Screwball Squirrel. The movie is rated PG for slapstick and cruel humor.

On its opening weekend, the film became one of the biggest box office disasters of all time for films released in at least 2,000 theaters, receiving largely negative reviews from critics and audiences.

Segments[]

The film contains the following short series:

  • Tex Avery: The cartoon stars a goat-riding cowboy (voiced by Billy West) who saves the day and his girl Chasity Knott (voiced by Kathleen Barr) from his nemesis Sagebrush Sid (voiced by Billy West). Based on Bob Clampett's (a fellow animator at Warner Bros Studios in the 1930s) "Red Hot Ryder" from Buckaroo Bugs (WB 1944).
  • Einstone: The cartoon stars a brilliant caveman (voiced by Ian James Corlett) who is the world's first inventor. He tries to teach the other cave people how to be civilized with his inventions. A play on the name Einstein. Loosely based on Tex Avery's "The First Bad Man" {1955 MGM}.
  • Genghis & Khannie: Genghis the lion (voiced by Lee Tockar) leads his army across the world to conquer in the name of his Emperor (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) and meets a young female panda named Khannie (voiced by Cree Summer) who tends to ruin his conquering plans. A play on the name Genghis Khan. Genghis is based on the lion from "Slap Happy Lion" (MGM 1947)
  • Maurice & Mooch: Maurice the Chicken (voiced by Terry Klassen) outwits Mooch the Fox (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) who constantly tries to eat him. Maurice is based on the canary character from "King-Size Canary", and acts rather like the pig boy in "One Ham's Family".
  • Pompeii Pete: A short bumbling Roman centurion from Pompeii (voiced by Ian James Corlett) was buried in lava and 2,000 years later is free to live in the modern world. His behavior annoys a businessman named Dan (voiced by Alec Willows).
  • Power Pooch: A normal dog (voiced by Phil Hayes) gained superpowers after licking a superhero's (parody of Superman) shoe and became a superhero himself along with his blue cat sidekick Little Buddy (voiced by Lee Tockar).
  • Freddy the Fly: An obnoxious fly (voiced by Billy West) bugs an obese billionaire named Amanda Banshee (voiced by Grey DeLisle). Freddy is loosely based on one of Tex Avery's earlier characters, Homer the Homeless Flea from What Price Fleadom (MGM 1948).
  • Shorty the Wolf: A wolf (voiced by Scott McNeil) who is very short and is always after beautiful women. He's loosely based on the original wolf from one of Tex Avery's cartoon, "Swing Shift Cinderella" (1945 MGM). He wasn't featured in the TV series, but he was featured in the movie. He has a partner named Kyle (voiced by Tom Kenny).
  • Samantha and Carl: A cat named Samantha (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is a female talking cat adopted by a household family, and also has a car for a brother named Carl (voiced by Samuel Vincent). The segment revolves around Carl helping Samantha to accomplish difficult tasks. Samantha is loosely based on Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry short, "Puss n' Toots" (1942 MGM). As for Carl, he's loosely based on Junior from Tex Avery's "One Cab's Family" (1952 MGM). Sam and Carl also don't appear in the series, but do also appear in the movie,

Trivia[]

  • In Tex Avery, Sid was arrested, and Tex Avery saved the day.
  • In Freddy the Fly, Amanda finally caught the fly, as she can live normally again.
  • In Power Pooch, Power Pooch realizes that nobody loves him.
  • In Maurice and Mooch, Mooch finally ate Maurice.
  • In Genghis and Khannie, Genghis got hurt, but he won. As for Khannie, she gets bad luck.
  • In Einstone, Einstone turns everyone who's stupid, into everyone who's smart.
  • In Pompeii Pete, Pete dies, and Dan is rich.
  • This marked the first and only time the Wacky World of Tex Avery included two new cartoon segments: "Shorty the Wolf", and "Samantha and Carl".
  • This is the first and only movie based on the television series that had negative reviews.
  • Despite DiC Entertainment owning the rights to the TV series, Walt Disney Pictures owns the rights to the whole cartoon.
  • This marks the first time Tex Avery from the Wacky World of Tex Avery TV series played a banjo.
  • Just like the television series, this movie also received negative reviews.
  • Their music and humor are similar to Disney Channel's Wander Over Yonder, except that it also had the humor from the 1990s TV series of the same name.
  • This is the last Disney feature film based on a cartoon from DiC Entertainment.
  • The opening theme song for the movie is the same theme from the TV series, except that it was extended, and re-performed by the Two Man Gentleman Band, best known for performing the theme song for Wander Over Yonder.
  • It turns out that Khannie is scared of boxes.

Cast[]

Production[]

The movie was announced in 2010, as they were originally going to release it in May 2011, but was delayed, and moved to March 7, 2014. Walt Disney Pictures is the main (co-)distributor for the movie. Cookie Jar Entertainment was originally going to co-produce it, but was shut down and sold to DHX Media in 2012. Brody Dowler, creator of the 1997 TV series of the same name decided to revive it as a movie. There were plans for a TV series reboot, but it looked like it wasn't going to happen. So then, Dowler revived it as a film. As it's now animated in flash by Mercury Filmworks, and is also co-distributed by DHX Media, and co-produced by 9 Story Entertainment.

Music[]

These are the songs heard in the film, but there was no soundtrack for it. The soundtrack for the movie was never released, due to certain reasons.

  • "The Wacky World of Tex Avery (theme song)" by the Two Man Gentlemen Band
  • "Home on the Range" by Andy Bean
  • "Calling All Clowns" by David Lindup (played on banjo and scatted by Billy West as Tex Avery)
  • "Competition song" by the Two Man Gentlemen Band
  • "Freddy the Fly theme song" by Andy Bean and David Lindup
  • "I hate flies" by the Two Man Gentlemen Band
  • "Power Pooch theme song" by David Lindup
  • "No more heroism" by Andy Bean
  • "Maurice and Mooch theme song" by Trevor Jones
  • "I cought a chicken" by Maurice LaMarche
  • "Genghis and Khannie theme song" by Lee Tockar
  • "Genghis is Awesome" by Andy Bean
  • "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" by Robin Hogarth
  • "Smart education" by Ian James Corlett
  • "Tarantella" by Francois Proust and Trevor Jones
  • "Tarantella (reprise)" by Ian James Corlett
  • "Shorty the Wolf" by the Two Man Gentlemen Band
  • "Samantha and Carl theme" by Andy Bean
  • "The Wacky World of Tex Avery (reprise, pop rock version) by Miranda Cosgrove and Justin Bieber
  • "Best Song Ever" by One Direction
  • "Exceptional" by China Anne McClain

Criticism[]

The Wacky World of Tex Avery was criticized enough as a TV series, but the entire world was criticizing about it as a movie that has many parts that heavily ripped-off Wander Over Yonder. They heard about it in the news and people were disappointed in the Walt Disney Company for reviving it as a movie.

Reception[]

Critical response[]

The Wacky World of Tex Avery received largely negative reviews from critics and audiences, because it was named an "even BIGGER disgrace to the name of Tex Avery". As it also had a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews, a 4% approval rating on IMDb, based on 7 reviews, and a score of 14% on Metacritic, based on 11 reviews. Criticisms from audiences included crude animation and its unfunny, 'un-Averyesque' humor. It also was known for copying the humor from Disney's Wander Over Yonder. People say that having it as a TV show is bad enough, but making a movie of it is worse.

Box Office[]

In its debut weekend, the Wacky World of Tex Avery proved to be one of the biggest box office bombs of all time for films released in at least 2,000 theaters. Its production budget was $10 million, in addition to another $40 million in marketing costs. On March 7, 2014, the film opened at #18 at the box office to $102,575 in 2,160 theaters, with a per-theater average of $47. Box Office Mojo said the film "needs at least $5 million to avoid being dubbed a legendary flop". It grossed only $445,000 in its opening weekend, surpassing The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure and Delgo for the lowest opening weekend of a film in 2,000 or more theaters. Delgo also played in the same number of theaters as Oogieloves, the same with Wacky World of Tex Avery. The film also has the second worst opening weekend per-theater average for a widely released film at $206. "To put that in perspective, if each location played Wacky World of Tex Avery five times a day on one screen at an average ticket price of $7, that would translate to fewer than two people per showing", according to Box Office Mojo. Over the life of its exhibition in theaters, the film grossed a grand total of $17,000,000 as measured by total box office gross, only Delgo and Oogieloves had a worse theatrical gross by total gross; however, The Wacky World of Tex Avery played for only 10 days, while Oogieloves played for 23 days while Delgo played for only seven.

Accolades[]

The film was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Screen Ensemble at the 35th Golden Raspberry Awards.

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