'Toon Reviews 14: Animaniacs Vol 1 Part 5: Taming of the Screwy

Episode 5

Taming of the Screwy

For this episode, we’re going for one full-length cartoon.  It features the Warners doing their thing at their official home on the Warner movie lot in a longer running time, and like all cartoons starring them, despite its simple plot, the strengths of these characters make everything an animated experience. 

The studio is putting on a big party for foreign investors who will offer $1 billion if everyone at the studio appeases them, and that includes the Warner siblings.  With Thaddeus Plotz’s crazy desire for more money for the studio in mind, a lot of pressure is on Dr. Scratchansniff to teach the Warners to behave. 

By now, the Warners have been established to be majorly incurable jokesters, and when they’re called in for etiquette training from Scratchansniff, like in “De-zanitized,” their cartoony mannerisms bring a highly entertaining feel to what they do with him.  Almost everything Scratchansniff teaches such as polite greetings, good diction, and table manners leads to them making a joke or gag.  Even if they’re clear hindrances to the Warners getting into the party, everything they do is nicely constructed and sure to have the audience enjoying themselves regardless.  However, through the kids’ constant funny business is a bit of a restraining layer to their characters.  While they’re a riot when misbehaving, they back down whenever Scratchansniff says they can’t go to the party if they don’t get their acts together.  Also, while their constant joking around suggests they didn’t get anything that was taught, a lively musical number shows that’s not the case, and eventually pull off the good manners Scratchansniff was striving for.  If that’s not enough, when asked why they gave Scratchansniff a hard time earlier, they say were just showing affection, which is fitting because around him here, and in many cartoons to come, the Warners are much less antagonistic to him than others they come across.  Basically, the last moments of training give an interesting aspect to how the Warners work as characters, enhancing their appeal. 

When we finally get to the party, the aspect is shown to be even more interesting.  Although the Warners successfully behave, Plotz pulls off a jerky move by making Scratchansniff send them home without giving them a chance to keep it up for the whole night.  Following an honestly emotional scene of Scratchansniff reluctantly following orders, the Warners show off even more interesting ways their characters work.  Since they unfairly weren’t appreciated for being good for once, the Warners fight back by resorting to their wacky ways throughout the party resulting in many humorous bits on their own taking place within a galaxy of movie star caricatures film buffs will have a field day with, and a hilarious chase scene where Plotz tries to throw them out.  Thankfully, this hilarious, yet clearly uncouth, sequence turns out fine because it convinces the investors to give the money because of how much the kids livened up the dull party.  I really like that this is the case since, as cartoon characters, zany and off-the-wall are the best way to portray the Warners, especially when they only use their antics to cause trouble when someone mistreats them like Plotz did, making their personas more interesting. 

All this may unfold in the common, “learning sophistication” plot, but with these developments, strong humor, and a great atmosphere from the many movie stars, it, like most of this show, the cartoon stands out as something special. 9.5/10

Cartoon Ranking

1. Slappy Goes Walnuts
2. H.M.S. Yakko
3. Hooked on a Ceiling
4. De-zanitized
5. Win Big
6. Taming of the Screwy
7. Cookies for Einstein
8. Goodfeathers: The Beginning

Song Ranking

1. Yakko’s Universe
2. Yakko’s World
3. The Monkey Song

Miscellaneous Ranking

1. Nighty-Night Toon

That’s it for the first disc on the set.  Next time we'll move onto the second disc starting with our first TV show intro parody, one of the absolute best displays of the Warners' antics while they're Plotz's secretaries for the day, the first starring role of Mindy and Buttons, and a song asking the big question of what animal the Warners are.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.