Favorite cover art for a cartoon video release

[Bugsy-Kun]

I think it was never asked in this forum but i wonder what's your favourite cover arr for a VHS/Laserdisc/DVD release of a classic cartoon or feature.

My bests are from the 1985-86's Warner Bros. Cartoon Jubilee 24 Karat Collection. Even if each compilations is a mix of bests and lesser know shorts, the covers are artsy and very fresh. It's maybe the only treatment the Looney Tunes really deserve during the VHS times.

The cover art of Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 and 5 turned the bests of the series. Very well drawed especially the 5 who take at least three times before have the final cover.

My real favorite of all is the Buena Vista's VHS cover art of the movie Lucky Luke: Daisy Town. The cover art never cease to amaze me when i see at videoclub stores during the 90's. Unfortunately, the gorgeous cover art changed to a tacky one into DVD's.

What's yours?

[AnthroCoon]

I liked the artwork for the Top Cat boxed set

[J. J. Hunsecker]

The best cover art on DVD:
Popeye the Sailor vol. 1, 2 & 3 (The most aesthetically pleasing cartoon DVD covers ever. Tasteful and elegant, with beautifully drawn characters. A rarity in DVD cover art.)
Walt Disney Treasures Silly Symphonies
Walt Disney Treasures Mickey Mouse in Black and White vol. 2
Walt Disney Treasures Mickey Mouse in Living Color vol. 2
Walt Disney Treasures The Chronological Donald vol. 1
Walt Disney Treasures The Chronological Donald vol. 3

Laserdiscs:
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes vol. 1-5 (Slick paintings of the LT characters, in the 40's style)
The Art of Tom and Jerry vol. 1 & 2
The Compleat (sic) Tex Avery
Betty Boop Defiinitive Collection vol. 1 & 2
The Flintstones Limited Edition Collection (Cover art by John K!)
The Ren & Stimpy Show: The Essential Collection (Cover painted by Bill Wray!)

VHS
Turner Looney Tunes videotapes -- Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons, Daffy Duck and Company, Porky Pig and Company, and Bugs vs. Elmer
Columbia House Looney Tunes

[David Gerstein]

There can be no other:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/videos/drv700/v700/v70090cb7c4.jpg

It's not just that Turner made the infamous HIS MOUSE FRIDAY the cover feature on a Tom and Jerry VHS (in 1992, when it was already long off the air), but the fact that the character art, staging, and even fonts on this package are part of the design and add to the theme and atmosphere perfectly. The controversial nature of the subject matter is actually a red herring WRT what I think is appealing about it.
Ten years earlier, as far as Tom and Jerry go, we had leftover Chuck Jones-era clip art slapped together poorly. Fifteen years later, we have WB staff artists who seem to genuinely try, but who pose the characters awkwardly or "overcuten" them (huge eyes/heads, scrawny limbs, big smiles... this isn't actually cute, fellas).

As for Looney Tunes, I'd say the best packaging went to this line (http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/DVDvideo/VHS/videoauthori.html). Nice character models, staging, branding ("Authentic Original Looney Tunes") and fonts; color that was bright and modern but still tasteful. Packaging for the WB half-hour TV specials was similarly nice (http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/DVDvideo/VHS/videotvspecials.html) (save the one right on the top of the linked page)—though releasing those junkers one-to-a-tape was marketing suicide, even then.
There was a period in the mid-1990s when WB was releasing some lesser quality compilations overseas that didn't appear here. Despite featuring some sloppy selections, some of these also had covers to die for:

http://images.hepsiburada.com/assets/Film/500/vcdwartek38.jpg

Ten years earlier we had leftover Western Publishing-era clip art (http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/DVDvideo/VHS/videocarcav.html) slapped together poorly, or imitated ineptly by new artists. Five years later we had 1990s styleguide models slapped together. Today we have new artists imitating and combining models from virtually any era—including some Western Publishing throwbacks:

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/15/248615.jpg

Screw nostalgia. There is no legitimate excuse to go back to these models. Or that drawing style—dig the motion lines everywhere.

Could be worse, though. I don't think I've ever seen appealing package art on Disney or Universal mass-market releases, unless I'm forgetting something. Even the great recent Woody sets have some of the least professional Woody designs I've ever seen: over-airbrushed attempts to give the 1940s eye treatment to stiff 1970s publicity poses.

Somehow I suspect that the mid-1990s Warner releases and early 1990s Turner releases represented artwork actually commissioned and overseen by genuine fans of the cartoons and characters. Needless to say, the releases did well.
And—putting on my tinfoil hat for a moment, I add that maybe that was a problem. It would certainly seem to represent a threat to the marketing department types who have commissioned the packaging for more recent releases: god forbid something managed by a nerd should outsell something produced by our officially approved art people! Better keep those cartoon geeks far, far away, so we don't have to wonder if they're right.