The last theatrical Road Runner & Coyote short of the classic era, although this one is far from a classic. It's directed by Robert McKimson (only his second Road Runner cartoon) and while it's not great, it's a step up from the dreadful Rudy Larriva shorts. Obviously it's still well below the great Chuck Jones work on the series. This one appears to be inspired by James Bond, with Wile E. Coyote finding a spy kit and trying to use the stuff inside to catch the Road Runner. I actually don't think that's a terrible set-up and the gags that follow (sleeping gas, bombs, spy car) are fairly well-done. Chuck Jones could have gotten a lot out of this I think. The animation is poor, of course, as WB animation was during this period. The music tries to match what "the kids" were into at the time, so of course it's dated and corny now. It's certainly not a great Road Runner cartoon but, considering how bad the series had been under Larriva, I'm happy the series ended on a middle-of-the-road cartoon instead of a terrible one.
Review of Sugar and Spies
