Sunday, July 28, 2019

Lookit the Fuzzy Heads / No Face Like Home (Animaniacs Vol 3 Part 14) - 'Toon Reviews 32

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

 
Episode 64

Lookit the Fuzzy Heads

Characters from the sister series of Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, have been making cameo appearances since the early days.  However, they were mostly just there to populate the background or, in the case of Baby Plucky, add in their popular running joke suitable for the moment. 

This time, one of the original Tiny Toons characters is a major character in an Animaniacs cartoon, and that’s Elmyra.  She’s the ever divisive animal-loving girl whose gimmick is over-bloated patronizing lovey-dovey talk when handling small animals.  In a way, she’s killing them with kindness.  Having watched a good amount of Tiny Toons on Hulu not long ago, I’m kind of split on Elmyra.  She’s very annoying with her voice and mannerisms as well as the fact that there are a good number of times where she comes out on top in the end.  Other characters are also too scared to stop her, and seeing a lot of that plays a part in devaluing the classic cartoon feel Tiny Toons goes for.  Then again, there are times when she can be legitimately entertaining in what she does, and the times when she does get comeuppance are always satisfying. 
These strengths are at play when the Warners learn at Elmyra is joining their therapy appointment with Dr. Scratchansniff.  The usually confident zany cartoons are just as frightened of Elmyra’s presence as all the animals who have come across her.  It’s hard to tell if it’s good that they have a legit fear they can’t easily beat with their antics or disappointing that even these highly animated kids don’t do what they do best.  I mean, one scene during their session shows a key difference between their antics.  The Warners have total awareness of what they’re doing and their crazy mannerisms as a fun way of interacting, never causing intentional harm.  Even when one of their antics here involves hitting Dr. Scratchansniff’s hand in a sock puppet with a mallet, they’re aware that it was wrong, showing it was part of their act.  With Elmyra, she’s showing affection without even noticing she’s hurting Dr. Scratchansniff.  That’s a sure sign of danger with her and why creatures would be terrified around her.  She’s painful and she doesn’t even know it. 
Running away from Elmyra is indeed the smart thing for the Warners to do with all this in mind, but you can’t help but feel they could take her on better than this.  Making up for this are all the fun ways Elmyra pops in on them no matter where they run.  They include showing up in the randomly changing interior of their water tower and inside a movie theater where she straight-up hugs a dinosaur animatronic’s head off.  Not only are these surprise appearances good for a laugh, but they keep up a fun fast pace for the chase. 
The Warners even end up having a smart way of handling Elmyra, making good use of their constant running through other characters’ cartoons in the process.  As if they know the nature of supporting characters, they set up a distraction for Mindy to follow which in turn attracts Elmyra’s attention and she follows this cute “little girl head.”  As the cartoon ends with Elmyra enduring the pain usually reserved for Buttons when he chases Mindy, it’s a great cathartic collection of laughs.  The Warners are safe from the aggressive animal caretaker, and the pain from the chase for Mindy goes to someone who deserves it for once. 
Ultimately, for the sake of fun comedy and fine use of characters, quick as this cartoon goes, it’s a lively watch of cartoonish antics from shows old and new.
A
No Face Like Home
This Slappy Squirrel cartoon starts off like it has a clear plot, goes in the usual gag-driven direction, and then just ends.  It’s kind of a sloppy structure, but the results are still highly humorous and have a special way of making a point. 
To start off, Slappy’s main goal in the cartoon is one with a lot of merit to it.  It makes for a very blunt commentary on how sappy and overly reliant on morals many cartoons on kids networks can be.  A clip parodying those shows with characters acting unnaturally happy and friendly to each other while preaching sappy morals is enough to sell Slappy’s concerns for the media.  She wants to get back into show business to make a name for cartoons as a tool for comedy like they used to be.  However, she’s under the impression that she has to completely change her appearance to do it as a result, so she goes to a plastic surgery clinic.  Right away, we have attention given to a legitimate problem with the entertainment industry that feels like something Slappy would want to do something about.  Maybe she’s overthinking things by wanting to change her appearance, but it could be argued that it’s a case of doing what’s necessary for a cause. 
However, we don’t get to see any of that further explored as Walter Wolf suddenly appears when Slappy is ready for surgery.  Since this is one of Slappy’s longtime enemies we’re talking about, just him showing up is enough to prepare oneself for an onslaught of cartoonish physical violence from here.  With all the measures taken to ruin Slappy’s face while she’s out, Walter truly goes all out with villainous intents to ruin his rival’s cartoon career the worst way possible.  As you could guess, Slappy’s wise to Walter’s motives and how corny his overdramatic dialog is.  While pretending to be out, she intentionally slides along her cot, making for overly forceful blows from Walter capped by loud clanging sounds.  There’s also a good use of electrocution whether Walter is knocked into an overhead lamp or touched by a defibrillator.  That said, one of them features Slappy’s own corny line on how what you can get away with in cartoons is shocking as the electrocution happens.  There’s also a good use of constant references to a golf course at the clinic where they build up to one last pain gag.  A golf ball lands on Walter’s nose, a doctor hits it hard, and the nose is hurt so bad, he needs plastic surgery.  With a little help from Slappy, Walter’s appearance is altered into another person.  The only hint I’ll give is that it’s a good cause for him to steer clear from Yakko and Wakko. 
As for Slappy’s plastic surgery, she suddenly decides against it via an intentionally cheesy moral preach common to after school specials.  While this is yet another funny jab at corny moralistic cartoons, it makes Slappy’s decision very sudden without any thought put into it.  It’s a waste of an interesting plot just for the sake of pain gags against some hapless fool trying to ruin her.  Then again, that may be the point given that Slappy loves using cartoon violence for the fun of it. 
In the end, this might not be the best cartoon for a compelling story since it spends so much time building up one only for it to go nowhere.  Still, it’s a winning enough entry of showing why cartoons should be allowed to be cartoons no matter how old and grey they may be.

A

 
Cartoon Ranking
1.      Baloney and Kids

2.      Ragamuffins

3.      Frontier Slappy

4.      Woodstock Slappy

5.      Wakko’s Gizmo

6.      The Warners and the Beanstalk

7.      Brain Meets Brawn

8.      Meet John Brain

9.      Yes, Always

10.  Drive Insane

11.  Lookit the Fuzzy Heads

12.  Karaoke Dokie

13.  Witch One

14.  Of Course, You Know This Means Warners

15.  No Face Like Home

16.  Meet Minerva

17.  The Chicken Who Loved Me

18.  Scare Happy Slappy

19.  Smell Ya Later

20.  A Gift of Gold

21.  Ups and Downs

22.  The Helpinki Formula

23.  Les Boutons et le Ballon

24.  Gold Rush

25.  Up a Tree

26.  Cranial Crusader

27.  Mermaid Mindy

28.  Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson

29.  With Three You Get Eggroll

30.  Kung Boo

31.  The Brave Little Trailer

32.  Girlfeathers

33.  Super Buttons

34.  Katie Ka-Boom: Call Waiting

 
Song Ranking
1.      Schnitzelbank

2.      I’m Cute

3.      Dot’s Quiet Time

 
Miscellaneous Ranking
1.      Branimaniacs

2.      Macbeth

3.      Oh, Oh, Ethel

4.      Spike
 



 
The next Animaniacs review is a very special retrospective on reaching 65 episodes and documenting the brilliantness of the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Pool Hopping" from Steven Universe.
If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

No comments:

Post a Comment