The Complete Wicked Willie

Introduction

The brainchild of Gray Jolliffe, the Wicked Willie books were first published in 1984 with Man's Best Friend and have entertained readers ever since. Some were co-written with A Year in Provence's Peter Mayle and were released as a collection, Wicked Willie: Reloaded, in 2003.

This DVD, originally released in 2003, brings together two Wicked Willie stories, animated by Bob Godfrey: Wicked Willie - The Movie (1990) and Wicked Willie Rides Again (1991). In these, Willie is a 'stand-up' comic, talking about mans history with his 'best friend' and the battle of wits between the two and frequent differences of opinion.

Video

These keep the feel of the original cartoons with simple animation and are presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Although this looks like a video-to-DVD transfer with some softness and graining, this isn't a problem as the humour is in the dialogue and simplicity of the drawings rather than the picture quality - after all, they are nearly 20 years old.

Audio

A clear mono soundtrack which is almost entirely dialogue and problem free.

Extra Features

The Interview with Gray Jolliffe is an interesting and informal chat with the creator as he sketches and colours in some drawings, explaining how the character and subsequent books and films came about.

Where's Willie? is a play on Where's Wally? Where you have to find Willie with the arrow keys on your remote before the time runs out. There isn't very much time and he is well hidden so you have to be quick. The Willie Trivia Quiz is about real biological willys and sperm. If you get a question wrong it doesn't reveal the right answer so there is a degree of longevity.

There are Biographies of Gray Jolliffe and Bob Godfrey, a gallery and some early artwork showing how Willie has changed over the years.

Checking The Undercarriage - drawn by Gray Jolliffe - this is a simple 6 frame self-examination guide for men re: testicular cancer. Wicked Willie is in fact working closely with Bob Champion Cancer Trust to raise awareness, with the help of "Dr Willie" himself…

Willie on the Street involves a series of interviews with people on the street asking if they recognise Willie and if they have any embarrassing willie experiences.

Exclusive T-Shirt Designs - there are 5 cartoons in the DVD which can be printed out and, according to the Eureka website used for T-shirt designs. The DVD contains no information about how to go about this so I assume they expect you to take your chosen cartoon to a printing shop.

Conclusion

The relationship between man and his best friend is an interesting one, subject to many jokes and anecdotes. These two films play on them with Willie telling gags and reminiscing of the many run ins he's had with his 'owner' - it's quite clear where the real power in the relationship lies, with Willie as the brains of the operation, always 'up for it' and permanently ready to embarrass.

I have childhood memories of a Wicked Willie book (though I'm not sure where I saw it) and though these films are a little dated - many of the jokes are now old hat and some of the material from ...Rides Again is duplicated from Wicked Willie - they are still amusing and it's good news that Jolliffe has plans for a new film. I enjoyed both of these, Wicked Willie more than ...Rides Again which has much more material; the former runs at 49:20, the latter at 34:20.

It's not a fantastic package with just over an hour of original material and a fair selection of extras but if you enjoy the books then this is the DVD for you but otherwise, if you have any memories or interest, then the reasonable price of the disc (much lower than the RRP of the original release) should make it worth a blind buy.