Animator Chuck Jones may not be a household name but his impact on popular culture is almost impossible to measure. This is the guy who brought us Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, directed some of the most classic Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons, and developed the classic The Grinch Who Stole Christmas for television. Jones, who died in 2002, is the Steven Spielberg of animation, a hero to cartoon geeks, art lovers, and film buffs of all ages.
Befitting to his wide ranging appeal, The Chuck Jones Experience at Circus Circus is actually multiple experiences in one. A retail area fronts the complex that is part art gallery and part souvenir shop where you can pick up everything from an animation cel to a Bugs Bunny t-shirt.
Pay the admission and you get to go inside the main facility, which starts with a cartoon theater, by which I mean both the design and the content are inspired by Jones' animation. It's all wacky, non-parallel lines and bright candy colors making it a perfect showcase for the kind of Looney Tunes antics featured on the big screen.
Next up is a more straight-faced museum style section that includes a reproduction of Jones' office where he created many of this award-winning shorts and an art gallery that displays animation cels, drawings, paintings, and more. Although obviously best known for his cartoon work, Jones was an accomplished artist in his own right and his work is worthy of being hung in any fine art museum.
The next section is more interactive, giving visitors a chance to immerse themselves in the world of animation. You can try your hand at drawing a cartoon strip and test out various sound effects and voices. Touch screen displays feature a library of classic Jones cartoon shorts and artwork, which I will warn you now may be where you lose entirely too much time devouring classics like "What's Opera, Doc?", "The Rabbit of Seville," and "Duck Dodgers and the 24 1/2th Century."
Back outside the admission area is the Center for Creativity, a working classroom where kids (and adults if they want) can draw, color, and learn about various art techniques from a rotating schedule of speakers and teachers.
With all this going on, there is something here to satisfy just about every taste, but it should be noted that kids (and short attention span adults) may be bored by the museum portions. That's okay though because you can take the experience at your own pace and skip the parts that don't interest you. I personally would've liked to have seen a bit more integration of interactive experiences throughout but that's a minor quibble for what really is a fun look into the mind of a "super genius."
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