. . . like a simple cartoon about a young boy merely guilty of being a serial day-dreamer at school. But when a Warnologist digs a little beneath the surface of FROM A TO Z-Z-Z-Z, a more sinister undertone emerges. Z-Z-Z-Z contemporaries would have noticed immediately that Master Ralph L. Phillips has morphed into General Douglas MacArthur at the end of this Looney Tune, when he threatens his Math Teacher Missy Wallace with MacArthur's most famous quote, "I shall return!" Since a chalkboard's worth of numbers literally attack Ralphie during this short, numerologists will quickly note that "Master Ralph L. Phillips" and "General Douglas MacArthur" BOTH count out at 244, along with "Math Teacher Missy Wallace" (also 244, with 24 divided by 4 times 3--for this fated trio--being expressed as Satan's Number, 666!). Warnology indicates that this was Warner Bros.' way of warning America against a renewed military coup effort on the part of MacArthur, who'd all but rolled up to the White House in a tank a few months earlier. This subliminal message obviously worked, since MacArthur just faded away until he died in the wake of this animated caution.

While Chuck Jones has been given his just desserts as an animator he is awfully underrated as a filmmaker and should be considered as one of the top directors of all-time regardless of medium. Not only have his works inspired the likes of Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus and Joe Dante but his characters were always human.In this short we get the most rounded character Chuck Jones ever created not only because he was "Flesh and Blood" but because he (Ralph Phillips) went through a range of emotions (boredom, whimsy, regret, anger, self-indulgence, loneliness) than most of his characters ever did. This film is a testament to Jones's art. In just 21 minutes Chuck Jones created a character who doesn't shine as brightly but is just as memorable as Bugs Bunny.10/10

This Oscar-nominated short directed by Chuck Jones is one I can relate with. In school while I'm usually the talkative/class clown type. There are times when I doze off and daydream about fantastic adventures and places and people. So in a way I can relate to this short and it's leading character. And this short is based on Chuck Jones' childhood daydreams. So I guess we have something in common.

Nominated for an Oscar, this cartoon is a takeoff on Walter Mity, with a small boy named Ralph Phillips surpassing Mitty in inventiveness. Thoroughly engaging and extremely hilarious, the situations Ralph imagines are wonderful and so off-beat (particularly his bout with mathematics!) that the cartoon can be watched again and again without getting old or growing flat. Most highly recommended.