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Episode 43
Of Nice and
Men
In addition to their social nature compared to that of the
rest of the show, a winning element to the Rita and Runt cartoons is the
chemistry of the titular team. One is a melodramatic
smart-alack cat and the other is a big dumb dog who never realizes he’s with a
cat. They’re both completely distinct
characters with their own approaches to situations. Put together, the approaches make for
interesting stories such as this one.
Rita and
Runt are attempting to find a home in Monterey, and the prospect of that home
is elevated to extravagant levels from Rita’s song about it. The song is another strong example of how
well these cartoons work. There’s a lot
of talent and passion here that describe the characters’ main goals and what
would be an ideal home for them since they’re homeless strays.
However, after singing about how great
Monterey will be and both of them hopping off their train, Rita and Runt take a
wrong turn, completely missing it.
Instead of a luxurious beach home, they wind up at a bunny farm run by a
guy named Happy Bob adding to the musical tone by appeasing his bunnies with a
jazzy number. It kind of puts the whole
subplot about Monterey to waste since it’s never brought up again, but that
doesn’t detract from the main plot’s appeal.
The main source of appeal is how both Rita and Runt take being roped
into the bunny farm to work for Happy Bob.
Rita, being a cat, is assigned to keep rats out of the barn. Being the smarter of the two, she’s wise to
how bad this setup is while also making a solid commentary about stereotypical
views on certain character roles. It’s
not a good move for characterization and can be applied to common closed-minded
judgements in real life. Helping the
message stand out is yet another song Rita sings in an appropriately agitated
tone. However, she has enough restraint
to realize how Runt approaches being on the farm. He may not be intelligent, but has plenty of
sentiment as he easily bonds with the bunnies for how cute they are. His moments with them are easily among the
most endearing of the series and mean a lot more through Runt’s special
charm.
It turns out to be a good thing
Rita doesn’t make them leave like she planned.
The next day, Runt finds out that Happy Bob is planning on making coats
out of the bunnies. It is a twist that’s
not too hard to see coming, but Runt being so dumb makes it remarkable that he
figures this out on his own. In
addition, he also leads an effective takedown of Happy Bob by having the
bunnies hide in the barn, and then stampede right over him. It’s a satisfying ending that the bunnies are
saved, but I question why Rita and Runt leave Monterey behind. The bunny farm wasn’t that and they could’ve
gotten themselves, and by extension the bunnies, a home if they went back and
made the right turn. They could’ve
gotten what they wanted, but they leave it behind when they didn’t have
to.
Aside from that and other narrative
hiccups, the strong songs and distinctive leads places this cartoon among Rita
and Runt’s most pleasing performances.
A
What a Dump
I can admit that Mindy and Buttons cartoons suffer from being
formulaic. I can also admit that they
can get mean-spirted, especially for how a vast majority of them end. This cartoon, however, stand out for being
more mean-spirited as well as ridiculous than average.
For starters, you know how Buttons constantly
gets scolded with his valiant efforts to keep Mindy safe disregarded? Well this time, he gets scolded even before
the inevitable chase begins, and for something he didn’t even do at that. The first scene in the cartoon is Mindy
digging a big hole in the yard for some reason.
However, her mom catches Buttons trying to fill up the hole and berates
him for digging. It’s one thing for
characters to get in trouble with good deeds going unnoticed, but getting in
trouble for something someone else did is something I can’t abide. Considering the usual formula, things are
already less pleasing.
Then there’s the
catalyst for the formula ensuing.
Mindy’s mom gives Mindy a brand new doll and throws away her old ratty
one. This is nice and all, but shortly
after Mindy receives the new one, she puts it aside and chases after her old
doll as it’s taken to the dump. It’s as
if she never even got a prettier doll at all.
Why would Mindy care so much about her old doll after she got a newer
cleaner one? If she wanted both dolls to
get together, it would make more sense for
her to go after it. However, since she
gets a new doll and nothing happens to it, there is no real reason for her to
forget about it and go after her old one.
It’s a huge point of frustration that’s unshakable for the entire
cartoon. You’re watching the usual chase
when there’s no weight to it in the slightest.
That’s a shame because what we get out of the chase does have some
interesting elements to it. Buttons
chases Mindy to the dump which offers a not-to-often discussed topic on how
trash is sorted. This includes how some
things are taken out of the trash to be used as recyclables which is certainly
good for Mindy and her doll. That said,
think of how interesting the cartoon would’ve been if Mindy ended up in a trash
incinerator. The ways Buttons gets hurt
while searching for Mindy aren’t too bad either. Some of them include getting cans humorously
placed on his face and my favorite gag of him getting stuck in a glass jar resulting
in a pretty funny shape.
The action
really slows down though in an extended sequence of Buttons opening innumerable
can containers to find the one Mindy was put in. It ends when he sees that very container
holding Mindy on a truck leaving the dump.
Talk about convenient. Anyway,
the chase being over an old doll Mindy already had replaced makes Buttons’
ending scolding less pleasing than normal, and it already is quite
unpleasing.
This cartoon is borderline
enjoyable, but even with tolerable pain gags, it’s held back by more mean
moments than usual along with a few boring gags and weak plot decisions. Mindy and Buttons have always problematic,
and this cartoon simply adds to their weak points.
D
Survey Ladies
These days, you’re likely to come across annoying unwanted
amenities in the form of internet popup ads or random phone numbers. Imagine something like that popping up when
you’re just going about your day. Like
in an earlier cartoon, the Warners run into something like this, and it’s an
instance where their usual antics aren’t enough to beat them.
They’re off doing an actually friendly deed
of getting a birthday gift for Dr. Scratchansniff at the mall. However, just as they get in other people’s
business to annoy them, someone else does it to them. Throughout the mall, two women show up out of
nowhere asking if they’d like to take a survey on beans and George Wendt. Of course, the Warners are not interested in
that and just want to go on with their shopping. The catch is that, no matter how many times
they turn the survey down, the ladies keep following them and asking if they’d
like to take it.
It really begs the
question why they keep following the Warners instead of asking anyone else at
the mall to take their survey. I mean, a
few times in the cartoon show they’re willing to ask anyone, so what reason do
they have to ask the same people constantly?
Apparently, this is another cartoon drawn from personal experience from
the writers according to this DVD’s bonus feature, but I question the logic
there too.
Still, the scenario at play
is great fun to see. It’s at least
interesting to see characters other than the Warners show up to surprise and
annoy people. The setting of a mall adds
to the variety of the ladies’ methods in how they pop out in surprise. Some are basic appearances like at the top of
an escalator, inside an elevator, or disguised as store mannequins. However, they’re capable of doing more
elaborate cartoonish appearances like coming out of a perfume bottle or showing
up in a music box, dancer outfits and all.
They’re all creative and play to
the environment of the stores successfully keeping the running joke fresh and
funny. Even if they don’t perform much
antics while playing the victims, the Warners are also entertaining as they
deny the ladies’ survey request. There
are some funny edgy rejections and even a few sight gags as they try to get
other characters to take the survey.
As
for how they finally get out of the situation, it’s a little mixed. After failing to find a perfect gift for Dr.
Scratchansniff, the Warners solve that and the issue with the survey ladies by
giving them to him for his birthday.
With how much they were genuinely trying to find a good gift, it doesn’t
feel right that they give him something they find annoying. Why would they give him something they know
is annoying after spending the whole cartoon trying to find a great gift? The issue with the ladies isn’t even
resolved, it’s just dropped onto someone else.
At least Dr. Scratchansniff says a line implying that he expected a gag
from the Warners, but was just being polite.
The tone of the ending may be confusing, but the cartoon as a whole is
still a fun and relatable story about constantly being offered things you don’t
want to be part of. In fact, it’s crazy
how it’s possible to end up with your own kind of survey ladies even today, so
make sure you know beans about them.
A
Cartoon Ranking
- Chairman of the Bored
- Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
- Bubba Bo Bob Brain
- Baghdad Café
- In the Garden of Mindy
- Critical Condition
- O Silly Mio
- Phranken-Runt
- Puppet Rulers
- The Three Muska-Warners
- Clown and Out
- Jockey For Position
- Sir Yaksalot
- Potty Emergency
- Survey Ladies
- General Boo-Regard
- Puttin’ on the Blitz
- Raging Bird
- Of Nice and Men
- Dough Dough Boys
- The Big Kiss
- Draculee Draculaa
- Babblin’ Bijou
- Fair Game
- No Place Like Homeless
- I Got Yer Can
- Spell-bound
- Smitten With Kittens
- Astro-Buttons
- Boot Camping
- Moby or Not Moby
- Noah’s Lark
- Skullhead Boneyhands
- The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
- Hiccup
- Moon Over Minerva
- Broadcast Nuisance
- White Gloves
- Katie Ka-Boo
- Mesozoic Mindy
- Hollywoodchuck
- Can’t Buy a Thrill
- What a Dump
Miscellaneous Ranking
- Animaniacs Stew
- Testimonials
- Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter
- Alas Poor Skullhead
- Cartoons in Wakko’s Body
- You Risk Your Life
- Casablanca Opening
- The Slapper
- The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert
- Animator’s Alley
Song Ranking
- The Planets
The next Animaniacs review covers an exciting song about the senses, the Brain doing something other than try to take over the world, and Rita suffering a gorilla while Runt sleeps through everything. There are also a few useless facts that live up to their name.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews are some "Plaza Shorts" from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.
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