Review: An Incredibly Amazing Take on a Much-loved Cartoon
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2012
Who doesn't love the eternal chase that is the "Sisyphean" Willie Coyote/Roadrunner saga? When I was a kid, the Coyote devising all kinds of crude Rube Goldberg machines (complicated contraptions meant to trap the blithely unaware Roadrunner), all of which ends up exploding in his face, was a source of endless laughter. Only when I got older and, uhh, well, more "mature" did I realize that there's something more to the story--the sheer ingenuity and perseverance of Willie Coyote seems to have deeper layers of meaning. How can you not admire a character that stays unfazed with his perpetual failure to capture what he thinks is the best lunch/dinner ever?The Coyote speaks to the Everyman and stirs up some sort of inspiration--but served as a cartoon, much of such meaning simply goes over our heads. I've always felt that the Coyote/roadrunner thing needs some sort of a "mish mash" to reach out to audiences of all ages and persuasions.Now, thank the cartoon stars, Stephen Thor has written something that redeems us all: `The Last Friends of Willie Coyote: The Movie."Meet Mike, Vaughn and Ella--three friends looking for some sort of personal redemption. And they find it in the unlikeliest of places: the desert. What was supposedly a road trip ends up in a strange place--they were like Dorothy in the `Wizard of Oz', whisked away to a mind-boggling place where the boundaries between reality and fantasy goes missing.Yes, this ebook is the screenplay to what I hope will be optioned as an actual Hollywood movie in the future. It's not a novel, so those who are expecting the usual long prose should be properly forewarned. But that doesn't mean this is any less gripping--having grown up watching movies, I believe that the screenplay format actually makes the story more lively and engaging--you read the scenes and picture them in your head, you see things as they happen, and the effect can be visceral--I actually had some sort of a life-changing moment reading that part when Willie Coyote finally gets what he has always wanted, then realizing that the truth is not as simple as capturing the Roadrunner. I felt like Anton Ego (`Ratatouille') must have felt upon tasting his mother's dish--it transported me back to those childhood afternoons watching the eternal Coyote/Roadrunner chase, loving the cartoon but never realizing why. That's why Stephen Thor's take on the tale is immensely satisfying. It just felt right.Yes, `The Last Friends of Willie Coyote' is an awesome tale, and I want it so badly to become a full-length animated film.Stephen Thor's work deserves nothing but five stars and two thumbs up!