Wonderful character development!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

. . . and on to "Darnation Milk" ("from cheerful cows") as well as hieroglyphics extolling Egyptian cigarettes, LIGHTS FANTASTIC thoroughly explicates the mindset of American advertisers--then and now. Like all the movie studios at the time, Warner Bros. had its share of run-ins with U.S. censors. For example, the first talkie version of THE MALTESE FALCON (1931) features a topless bathtub scene for the actress in the role famously inherited by Mary Astor in the second remake a decade later. But what a difference those ten years made! Well before the 1940s, America had adopted its puritanical sharia law that persists in many sectors of Society through today's 21st Century. Warner Bros. lampoons this pointless prudery by self-"censoring" this cartoon's can-can dance--performed by four dancing cans in skimpy skirts! Whenever these food tins face backstage and bend over for the "big reveal," the animators insert a black screen! That is, until the final "bottoms up" for "Face and Sunburn" Coffee (then known as Chase and Sanborn in the Live Action World) shows this message above the cans' finally revealed cans: "It's dated!" with the can bottoms all reading "Jan. 5, 1942." That coffee may be somewhat stale by today, but the idea that censorship has outlived its expiration date couldn't be fresher!

Not the most original of Fritz Freleng's cartoons, with a concept that later cartoons would explore later and perhaps at times to slightly funnier effect. But that doesn't take away from that Lights Fantastic is thoroughly entertaining and a delight to watch. The animation is lush and fluid, with great care evidently taken with the details and drawing, and the shots of Times Square are positively glitzy. The music is catchy, wonderfully orchestrated and full of energy, it has a remarkable ability to synchronise as well as it does with the action(like the best of WB/Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies) and also to add to it. Lights Fantastic is never less than amusing, at its best it's hilarious and has Freleng's style all over it. The play on words are snappy and smart and the eye test gag is really funny and inspired stuff. The pacing is crisp, never feeling dull, the characters are eccentric and fun and Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations are dead-on, bringing so much life and distinction to each character he played(in Lights Fantastic and every WB/Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes he did). All in all, not quite classic but lights up in a fantastic way. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Directed by the great Friz Freleng, "Lights Fantastic" is a fine Warner Bros. cartoon that is quite unique. There are no heroes or villains. Aided by a great music score by Carl W. Stalling, this is merely a gag-oriented cartoon involving lights, signs, letters, product mascots, and (most importantly) advertisements. And that's it, folks! Just a really humorous opportunity for Friz and his animation unit to experiment. Nothing wrong with that, is there? My favorite gags from "Lights Fantastic": A chorus line of coffee cans performs a can-can dance revealing their "butts". A small group of gentlemen read Chinese on a vertical sign (thanks to the vocal talent of Mel Blanc). A clown cannot control his mounting hysterics as he sings "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (again a credit to Mel Blanc's voice). And four neon string figures with bulbous noses sing some nice harmonies, with a fifth smaller figure adding his own little interjections (Blanc again).

I was extremely amused by Lights Fantastic. Some of the plays on words were quite hilarious, like the Face and Sunburn Coffee (with the coffee cans doing the can-can), take-off on Chase and Sanborn. So was the typewriter sign used to advertise an upcoming movie, called Understood Typewriters (play on Underwood), which typed first "It's Sensational", then "it's Colossal", then trying to type "It's Stupendous" but first typing "It's Stupa", crossing out the typo, trying again with "It's Stoop", crossing that off also. (I thought it was going to be "It's Stoopid"! THAT makes little sense as how can a movie that is sensational and colossal also be DUMB?). The last line was "It's Swell!" The cartoon ended with a Win-a-Car conga line, opened up with tapping of Stucco House Coffee (Play on Maxwell House), shaking by peanut and jangling of cow bell for Darnation Milk, and the boy-and-whale "Oliver Oil". The other signs were funny, too; though I have not seen this cartoon in years, I remember it ever so well.