Director: Chuck Jones
Release date: June 3, 1961
Stars: Road Runner & Will E. Coyote
Rating: ★★★
Review:
The twentieth Road Runner cartoon is a surprisingly inspired one. The short starts with the Coyote introducing himself and the Roadrunner with signs. What follows are seven attempts, with the third influencing all subsequent ones.
Both the animation and the background art are beautiful, Jones’ timing is excellent and the gags are fine. Milt Jackson’s score, on the other hand, makes one long for Carl Stalling, and there’s a level of mannerism that is a little irritating. Especially the extreme lagging of the coyote’s upper body, when zooming off, feels more tiresome than funny. Nevertheless, it’s a surprise that such a late Road Runner cartoon can still be of such a fine quality.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Lickety-Splat’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Lickety-Splat’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Vol. 2’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 
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May 7, 2024 at 16:41
Hans Christian Brando
All the animation books complain about the sameness of the Casper the Ghost cartoons, but nobody seems to have a similar problem with the almost indistinguishable Roadrunner cartoons. Cleverer and better animated the latter may be, but Casper at least had a more noble theme, the outsider’s search for acceptance, as opposed to that of self-defeat.
May 7, 2024 at 16:48
Gijs Grob
Perhaps most people prefer enjoyability over message in a theatrical cartoon?