There's an excellent interview with Dante over at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, but you probably already knew that.

When the film came out, I was at the height of my adult-life re-evaluation of these cartoons I had loved as a kid. Inspired by my reaction to a tribute screening of Chuck Jones 35mm prints organized by my neighborhood theatre shortly after his death, I signed up to write my first-ever article for Senses of Cinema on a pair of Jones cartoons. In preparation I steeped myself in Termite Terrace lore, and watched just about every Merrie Melody or Looney Tune available on VHS from a San Francisco rental shop, plus a number of others from the LaserDisc collections (the DVDs, you may recall, were released in conjunction with the Dante film as a sort of cross-promotion).

So, steeped in Blancophilia, I was naturally excited to see this feature film, especially knowing it came from the director of Gremlins 2. But, aside from the Lourve scene, I found the whole affair incredibly strained and unimaginative. I was, perhaps unfairly, comparing the gags to the best of Jones, Tashlin, Clampett, Avery & Freleng (and their writers) so fresh in mind, and failed to fully apprehend the embedded critique of the Warner studio's recent treatment of its properties. Having bypassed Space Jam probably didn't help either. (I've since caught up with it, to my dismay at the time.)

Thanks for providing inspiration for a revisit, Kevin & Keith.