Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios - Animation Pioneers (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

I just got done binge watching this Blu -Ray, and wow, it is a must for collectors or even for someone who wants to watch these older cartoons. The quality of these film shorts range from good to great. These cartoons are very simple and I dare say primitive compared to later cartoons such as Looney Tunes. This is understandable, because some of them are over a 100 years old! You can see experimentation by Bray Studios, with mixing live action and cartoon effects. I have not read the booklet that comes with the Discs, but I do like the soundtracks for these silent films. These simple piano (or other instruments and sounds) tracks follow queues in the animation to express movement or action. If you are not into this sort of music, you can always put on your own music, as there is no audible dialog for most of these cartoons. Overall, I have to give it up for Tommy Stathes and Thunderbean for all the effort they put into this release.

I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining and educational Blu Ray/DVD combo about the early years of cartoon animation. Bray Studios was very successful long before Loony Tunes or even Disney got into the cartoon business, and if these cartoons appear crude to 21st century eyes just imagine how amazing they would have appeared to viewers when they originally came out, some more than 100 years ago!Cartoons on Film is to be applauded for making these pieces of history available to the general public. It's always enlightening to see history that is not only educational, but entertaining as well. Period music is provided for the cartoons, which look amazing given their age. I hope Cartoons on Film continues to release such valuable and enjoyable pieces of animation's past.

This blu-ray/dvd is a marvellous way to get an impression of the work of JR Bray and his animation studio. Bray, who introduced the studio system in animation, may be mostly forgotten now as far as the general public is concerned, but at the time his fame extended even to Japan, with several articles in Japanese journals in 1916/7 praising his work. Tommy Stathes, Thunderbean and the authors of the booklet do a great job in restoring Bray's claim as one of the most important pioneers of animation.

Tommy Stathes does a great job in finding long forgotten and rarely seen animated shorts from the silent era. All of his collections are beautifully produced and great fun to watch.This set, concentrating on the legendary Bray Studio, is no exception.

This set has excellent representations of Bray's artists and the film quality of these early cartoons is some the best I have seen. A good follow up to the first Cartoon Roots offering. I recommend this set.

Even better than the first entry! It's a real challenge working with these films that are now a century old. Thank you for bringing them back to life after decades of neglect and burial.

Another stellar Cartoons On Film presentation of uber-rare, lovingly restored silent cartoons that shines a long-overdue spotlight on J. R. Bray and his studio. A must-have items for any serious cinema or animation enthusiast.

This is an amazing set of early animation! So often we're given little clips of silent cartoons to show us how 'primitive' things were before Mickey came along. This disc helps us understand just how vibrant the animation scene was in the teens and twenties. It's a revelation - highly recommended!