Mr. Magoo Show: The Complete Collection [DVD]

I was overjoyed to get this long- awaited set of UPA's most famous cartoon star. My four star rating is a compromise between the five star and three star features of this set. First the five star: Classic Media (which now owns UPA) has gone all out on beautiful packaging, with four one-sided discs in an album that slides into a slipcase. There's a booklet and a miniature repro of a Dell Mr. Magoo comic book, as well as a lenticular screen cover with a changing picture.You get all 26 shows, each of which consists of five cartoons, with cartoon lead-ins or bumpers between them. these are the early '60s UPA TV 'toons from The Mr. Magoo Show, not the theatrical cartoons from Columbia/ UPA made from 1949- 1959. Nevertheless, most people who remember Mr. Magoo, recall him from this '60s show, which features an excellent opening in which Magoo yells "Road Hog!" and barely escapes numerous collisions. The opening and the lead-ins are better than many of the cartoons, and except for Waldo and Prezley, I didn't remember any other characters.They are all quite forgettable, including a talking hamster who frequently feuds with a talking dog or a talking cat. These cartoons are somewhat inconsistent, however, because a different dog, which somewhat resembles McBarker from the later DePatie- Freleng Mr. Magoo cartoons, appears in some of the lead-ins. Mother Magoo also appears in some cartoons, along with Tycoon Magoo and a small cast of recurring bit players. There is one notable exception, that of Magoo's Chinese houseboy, Charlie. In the original 'toons, Charlie is a great character, often wiser and more hep to what's going on than Mr. Magoo, but curious to see what crazy predicaments "Bossman" will get into. Most of the reviews on Amazon in advance of the release of this set were hoping he'd have the original voice. The bad news is he doesn't-- sometimes-- it was redubbed for syndication on USA Cartoon Express.Now the three star part. The redubbing is truly terrible. Any vestige of humor, or for that matter, inflection, is lost. By my reckoning, about twenty of the cartoons (out of 130) have been redubbed in this set. It's possible kids might not mind, since they may watch mostly for Mr. Magoo and the slapstick humor. Adults will have to turn off the sound to sit through these episodes. That may be worth doing, though, because the modernistic UPA background art is truly a feast for the eyes. Of course, redubbing Charlie's voice misses the point. The UPA 'toons are not accidentally stereotypical. They're meant to be so over the top as to have no relation to any real person. They also don't parody any race or ethnic group, but rather the flat type personae of movies and serials. If other groups like Native Americans or the Irish ever took offense, there would be no cartoons at all, because all cartoons played off some stereotype drawn from B-movies. This was as true of Bugs Bunny as of Mr. Magoo. When they appeared, UPA's cartoons were hailed for, among other reasons, their extreme human characters, as opposed to funny animals. UPA's Dick Tracy Show (also on DVD) is based entirely on caricature.Animators worked from what they could, and in most cases it was the movies. This is because cartoons were intended to tie into or introduce the main attraction at theaters. How better than by caricatures of the leading stars? Mr. Magoo is a visually appealing cartoon, but Jim Backus' muttering is really what makes the character. In this respect, he echoes Red Pepper Sam's voicing of Popeye. For that alone this set is a treasure, but cartoon afficianados may also find a moral to the story. Against all odds, Mr. Magoo is a confident fighter. Against all the bludgeons of fate, he never gives up or loses his enjoyment of life, and at the end of the day can confidently say, "Oh Magoo, you've done it again!"

Pure unadulterated bliss! Excellent picture quality and no changes whatsoever; Charlie is intact with his original voice and broken English helping his nearsighted boss out of everyday mishaps and dangers. The packaging, BTW, it THE finest I have ever had the pleasure to encounter on any DVD I've ever purchased. It folds out to reveal a great full color scene of Magoo's charming Victorian house and backyard; the discs have great graphics on them, and the comic book and booklet are wonderful bonuses.The cartoons themselves are even better than I remember; in those days I took high quality stories and animation for granted; how much more I appreciate them now! The "modern" 1960s style is great, with the various background people shown in their contemorary splendor and there is so much to look at and enjoy repeated viewings are highly recommended.I have loved Magoo since I first enountered him as a child and time has only increased my fondness for this dear little character and his wonderfully innocent POV. He goes about his day blissfully ignorant of his surroundings and creates his own world and his lack of visual acuity aids this fantasy; in Magoo's case, ignorance really is bliss! And we enjoy it with him.Jim Backus gave Magoo life with his unique voice, and while I enjoyed him very much as Thurston J Howell III and the judge on I Married Joan, this, IMO, is his masterpiece, his real identity. Mel Blanc was almost killed in a car accident near UCLA and remained in a coma for several days until a visitor talked to him as Bugs Bunny, which brought him out of his comnatose state, so closely did he identify with the character; the same close identity is present with the Backus-Magoo partnership.Backus also did a hilarious appearance in a BB cartoon as the genie in the magic lamp and when Bugs rubbed the lamp, the genie appeared, voiced by Backus, who was so irritated at being constantly called out of his lamp he shouted "Heavens to Gimbel's; what does a genie have to do to get some privacy around here?"Backus also voiced the fat cartoon bird for United Airlines saying "United Airlines...the ONLY way to fly!"Magoo is finally available, so enjoy these uncut, unedited shows and pray they give the same treatment for the rest of the Magoo shows, esp the classic fairy tales.

My first complaint is, the DVD set took two years to be released.I heard talk about it, I read review after review, but, no DVDs.Then, on all the discs, on each opening credit, I keep seeing 1960 inroman numerals, what's up with that? This DVD set, from the very beginning was advertised as 1964-65.This is the whole 1960-62 syndicated season on the 4 DVDs?My guess is yes. It'll be great if they can release the"Famous Adventures Of Mr. Magoo" 1964-65.As for the voice over on Charlie, it seems to be original on some of them, and not on all of the episodes. The new voice-overs make Charlie pronounce words almost perfectly, that's not realistic.Keep in mind, it's a cartoon, it was the 60s. This should havebeen in it's original form.All that said, I think it's better than nothing. Most of it is original and intact, such as original music and the other character voice-overs.I say buy it for the original parts.

Nice Mr Magoo ShowMerci Laurent de Paris

If you are buying Mr. Magoo DVD set, you buy it because you loved it as a kid. It's a classic cartoon. In this "politically correct" age, someone thought it would be better to "edit" part of it, stealing Charlie's Chinese heritage, changing his accent, probably changing what he says altogether.WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Are you the same people telling us there's global warming when we had the coldest winter on record? The same people who are banning my lightbulbs, so i will be forced to use the ugly, inefficient, mercury filled bulb that could poison my pets if they should break? Probably. LEAVE MY CLASSIC CARTOONS ALONE! STOP MEDDLING IN EVERYTHING THATS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.Otherwise, the dvd is ok.