Animaniacs, the show that's zany, crazy, and totally insane-y. Launched in the early 90s, the Warner Bros. original captivated the hearts of children everywhere. Their humor was a wonderful mix of Bugs Bunny-style antics and subtle, intelligent humor that not every child (or every parent) watching could understand. It made those of us who did understand seem a little more special than the kids who enjoyed less sophisticated television.

Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! marks the first time the cartoon classic appears on Game Boy Advance. Built with the dream of making it big in showbiz, the game follows the furry trio as they embark on one of the greatest journeys known to mankind: they're going to make a movie! (Supporting cast members like Pinky and the Brain also make an appearance.) Every action you make, every step you take, every second of it will be caught on film. Fake film that will not be shown to the player, but the whole point is for the man in charge to guide, or direct, the characters through a series of wacky scenarios and Yakko situations.

The director is constantly on hand. Locate him at the beginning of each section of the environment (movie set?) to get the mission objective. What you do from there could be extremely basic (push a crate; throw an apple to destroy a crate, etc.) or relatively simple (use a non-lethal object, such as a piece of fruit, to defeat the actors playing villains). There isn't much of a range in difficulty. No massive changes that turn the game into a hardcore experience.

Granted, most of the original Animaniacs audience has moved into adulthood and abandoned most childhood entertainment. The game is a perfect fit for its young target audience, at least in terms of visual content.

Not in the first five minutes but definitely before the first 20, Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! begins to show what it's really about: simple frustration. It's strange to think of a game as being both, but the difficulty was clearly made for kindergarteners. The controls, however, weren't designed for any particular age group, let alone children who often have less patience than a veteran like myself.

Gameplay is isometric. That seems ideal considering the limitations of the console. The key word here is limitations: only a few directions of movement are possible. Want to go directly upstage? You can't. Want to go directly downstage? Forget it. You can move diagonally but it ends there. This leads to a number of problems as I'm sure you can imagine. Like trying to throw apples at a pirate - the task loses its entertainment value, the little it had to begin with, when you must stand in the same line of movement as your opponent. You almost have to stalk him, or walk ahead and wait for him to approach. If you're off the slightest amount, kiss the collision detection goodbye. The game thinks the apple doesn't belong and that it shouldn't hit the target, and consequently it won't.

More frustrating than that is the lack of different colors within the backgrounds. Gamers don't expect miracles from a Game Boy Advance title. We do, however, expect to be able to see where we're going, and we assume that we'll never have to question if the object in front of us is a wall or a passage to the next portion of the level. That happened to me more than once. I'd look at the strange shape of the location, assume that the flat, single-color barrier was a wall, and get bored walking in circles. It took a good deal of pushing the character up against every wall before I finally realized what was really there. The isometric angle makes it very difficult to judge these things.

Characters can be switched frequently, but to do so you must first play Polka Dottie, a mini-game where arrows and buttons scroll across the screen. Hit the corresponding button as it crosses the middle star maker to succeed. Short, unchallenging, and completely unnecessary.

Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! is another case of concept over execution. Game Boy Advance is a great system, but it's much to weak to handle a game on this level. It would've worked a lot better as a side-scrolling 2D action game. Even then it would have been tough to sell the movie-making theme to gamers without giving them a piece of the filmmaking action.

Gameplay: 5.0
Star in a major motion picture! That’s the concept. In actuality Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! is no different from the dozens of licensed adventure games that came before it. The movie sets are standard game levels. The director’s comments are masked hint boxes. The gameplay disappoints for two reasons, one of them being lackluster controls, the other being the lack of entertainment.

Graphics: 7.0
A faithful, colorful transition from TV screen to game screen. Good character art, good (though not always clear) backgrounds.

Sound: 6.0
Totally zany.

Difficulty: Super Easy
The only challenge is trying to tell the difference between a wall and a walkway.

Concept: 7.0
Movie theme: great. The fact that it’s a verbal and visual difference that does not create innovative gameplay: not great.

Multiplayer: 4.0
Generic, capture the flag-style mini-games.

Overall: 5.0
Good for the kiddies if frustration is not an issue. I can’t think of a situation where it wouldn’t be. By that same token I can’t think of a kid who, after Mom or Dad reads this review, will be convinced that the game isn’t everything they’re hoping for. If all they need is the presence of their beloved characters, Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! doesn’t disappoint.