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 74
The Tiger Prince
It’s not hard to figure out that The Lion King is one of the biggest
Disney films ever. Even to this day,
much like Frozen, you can see it
heavily advertised as one of the grand animated epics. That said, imagine being around at the time
when it first came out in the 90s (I was personally born the year it was
released). It was most likely exposed
much more then than it is now, and this includes parodies. Coming from a show that typically specializes
in parodies, this is perhaps one of the most elaborate jabs at Lion King ever constructed.
Like many parodies of this show, even if it
is playfully mocking the film’s famous opening “Circle of Life” scene, it’s
highly respectful. The animation clearly
doesn’t match the cinematic scope of the film, but it’s impressive to see how
close it comes. There’s precision and
accuracy to how so many animals travel across the plains to the stand-in for
Pride Rock giving a solid imitation.
Also adding to the imitation is a passionate song about surprises in
life. The interesting thing about it is
how much heart and soul goes into a musical work with offbeat lyrics on getting
hit by a bus or punched in the nose.
It’s a great way of matching the Disney atmosphere buy still reminding
the audience of exactly where all this is coming from. To end it, we have Yakko taking the role of Rafiki
as he enacts the famous pose of holding the newly born prince to all the
animals. Further making the parody all
its own, one last jab highlights exactly why such a stunt shouldn’t be
attempted as Yakko accidentally drops the prince. From there the pleasing feeling is somewhat
lost as he gives a sheepish look at what he just did. While pretty dark, I see the intentions of
going this route.
Even with this, this
is still an amazing parody with much love and dedication put into it, which is
huge considering that this is on material from a big rival company.
Plus it's probably a much better tribute to the film than any live action remake.
A+
All the Words in the English Language
(A)
Speaking of takes on clearly iconic
media works, this episode features the show poke fun at one of its own popular
segments. Fans know of Yakko’s musical
number where he sings names of the nations of the world as one of the greatest
musical and animation feats. Now, to the
tune of the same piece, “The Mexican Hat Dance” he takes on an even more
bountiful topic.
In front of a
dictionary, Yakko sings the names of all the English words imaginable. It’s crazy to see him take it on but fun to
watch for what it is. It also helps that
there’s a commentary by Dot and real-life announcer, Dick Button, adding an
authentic dramatic announcer quality to such a ridiculous task. In a way though, the song kind of boxes
itself into a corner since there are simply innumerable words in the English
language. We don’t see Yakko sing all
the words in the English language in one segment. It takes three segments spanning across the
entire episode, and it’s held back by actual repercussions most people would
face when singing a lot of names. That
comes up more in later segments, but even here Yakko is nowhere near as lively
and expressive as he is with nations of the world.
For now though, it’s a very strong start to
an ongoing song segment for this episode.
The Kid in the Lid
This show has worked wonders when
taking on the style of Dr. Seuss before, and now it’s got a whole cartoon
dedicated to it with this full-on parody of his famous work The Cat in the Hat. As I’ve stated in my review of the TV special
adaptation of the book, it’s a highly imaginative story with an interesting
message on the importance of fun even if you bend rules a bit. Now of all the characters on this show, Yakko
is pretty much the ideal stand-in for the cat with arguably the biggest mind
for fun.
The cartoon’s environment also
deserves a lot of credit for feeling right at home in the world of Dr.
Seuss. Like most of his works, it’s told
in rhyme all throughout with highly imaginative ways to have what happens fit
the rhyme scheme. It gets more
impressive when you consider the fun things Yakko has in mind for the featured
kids to do. The art style is worthy of
mention too with the use of solid colors and loose outlines for all the props
and characters. It further shows the
great respect the show brings even when making fun of various properties.
Even so, this parody of a well-known story
also successfully molds itself as its own thing. I’m not just talking about little changes
like the kids stuck inside the house due to intense heat instead of rain and
watching TV instead of sitting at the window.
I mean the wacky things Yakko does to spend the day with them. They even give the activities of the actual
cat a run for his money. While the
messes in the source material were unintentional after effects of activities,
at times it feels like Yakko is actively trying to make a mess. How can one not expect it when putting glue
on everything and then rolling them into a lump? The kids easily go along with it knowing it’s
wrong but just want some excitement.
The
stand-in for the cautious fish, Charleton Woodchuck, pops up posing as a total
nag on the fun prompting Yakko to take measures that result in the most
elaborate of gags. He forces Charleton
to take a bath, sends him down the drain, and the woodchuck comes out of the
toilet while its water creates a lake for the neighborhood kids to swim
in. That’s the kind of extreme
cartoonish gags that make this Dr. Seuss parody something of its own even if it
is somewhat gross. It should also be
noted that Charleton Woodchuck never appears again after this, presumably through never
being let out of that toilet. Since he
wasn’t exactly likable, this is far from a huge loss.
As for Yakko’s antics, they get bigger when
he brings in the stand-ins for Thing 1 and Thing 2, Wakko and Dot. They add in more oddball gags like Wakko
eating random things from the fridge including the things themselves, and all
three Warners getting really destructive through playing war. The latter thing is something even the thrill-seeking
kids don’t approve of. For one last
departure from the source, the kids’ parents do come home to notice the mess
which was what Yakko was apparently planning all along. Just as the kids are about to get the
ultimate scolding though, Yakko shows he does have a heart and doesn’t let the
place stay destroyed, fixing it in literally no time. This way the fun of the cartoon is perfectly
intact despite any harsh directions.
The
cartoonish antics of this show and the creative styles of Dr. Seuss continue to
go hand in hand with this cartoon. It’s
clear that they really make for quite an entertaining combination.
A+
All the Words in the English Language
(B)
Continuing the earlier song segment,
this is where the realistic repercussions of singing so many words start taking
effect.
Yakko is getting much more tired
and therefore sings much slower as Dot and Dick Button comment on how he’s so
far made it to the words that start with L.
Giving a more authentic announcing style, they also highlight on a
mistake at an earlier verse of words starting with F. If you’re aware of a certain F word that tends
to get censored, it’s honestly a blessing that Yakko made a mistake with that
letter. As great as it is that he
recovered from the mistake, wouldn’t that mean he still failed the
challenge? Things like this really start
taking the audience out of the animated experience with a highly energetic
cartoon like Yakko getting worn out over this.
Isn’t talking a lot and giving rapid wisecracks his thing? At least the fun in the absurdity is still
intact.
Method to Her Madness
This show often has a lot of
interesting subjects for its cartoons, and it’s especially apparent when they
highlight what makes the best kind of entertainment. While that’s the case with this Slappy
Squirrel cartoon, its morals can easily be taken the wrong way.
It’s the 1950s where a lot of upcoming actors
are specializing in the apparently then-popular Stanislavsky method of
acting. From what I understand, the
method means getting in touch with the most realistic emotions possible to get
into character. Skippy is a huge
follower of this method and is the talk of acting classes where the students
are well-known actors of the time like Maroln Brando, Marylyn Monroe, and
others. He’s well-liked by the students
but you can never tell if their affection is genuine or if they’re just making
fun of him.
Fed up with the style of
acting dominating films of the era, Slappy decides to join Skippy for one of
his classes to see what he’s become a part of.
All the way, there’s something confusing about the teaching
methods. The students are assigned to
act certain emotions, but they all seem like the same bored cool-looking
expressions that don’t seem to convey any emotion at all. If this is supposed to be realistic reactions
to all scenes, I have to wonder how actual examples of the Stanislavsky method
go. It’s easy to see Slappy’s point that
this style is very lacking even by an audience standard. Her wisecracking one-liners are honestly the
most entertaining thing about the whole sequence. There also seem to be a setback to the
students’ acting when following this method.
At one point in the class, Skippy and a Marlon Brando caricature recite
a scene from a parody of On the
Waterfront and Brando keeps flubbing his lines and needs help from
Skippy. I find it ironic since this is
one of Brando’s best roles in reality. The line in the cartoon is heavily
accurate to the source material too, with a bit Streetcar Named Desire thrown in with the shouting of
“STELLA!”. Basically, this is a pretty
awkward scene with little humorous appeal, though I do like the joke about
Brando getting fat someday considering a famous role he’d play in the 70s.
Anyway, this is when Slappy has enough of
this emotionless method and decides to bestow her own method of acting on the
class. What it involves, however, is
nothing but cartoonish antics on all the students. She then brings on a plethora of any classic
form of animated violence imaginable.
You got random falling pianos, blows from mallets, sticks of dynamite,
and funny expressions of anger and frustration.
As you can imagine, these antics involve a lot of explosions that blow
all the students up and bring out a lot of hurt, mad, or extremely scared
emotions from holding dynamite. They
bring out the most emotion they’ve shown throughout this cartoon, but a
lot of the expressions look very off-putting.
A big reason for this is that instead of being on characters with
extremely exaggerated design, they’re expressed by characters trying to closely
resemble real life actors. You just
can’t get genuine humor from realistic looking characters getting blown
up.
What’s more, what this leads to does
lead to a more expressive form of acting, but it’s also very corny. All the students do is imitate the mannerisms
of Looney Tunes which further feels awkward coming from believable
caricatures. Not to mention, while it
opens up use another acting method apart from the Stanislavsky one, it just has
another one in dominance. Does that
really resolve anything?
I admire the
approach of pushing towards acting that’s truly expressive, but this cartoon
really doesn’t stand out much with dull characters and confusing messages.
B
All the Words in the English Language
(C)
By now, all the cartoonish fun of
Yakko’s energy when it comes to singing a lot of names is practically
nonexistent. He’s made it to words
beginning with Z, and he’s more tired than ever. Keeping the fun of the affair going continues
to be Dot and Dick Button’s commentary.
Heck, Yakko even comes incredibly close to giving up as he passes out
before the last word. I suppose some of
his energy is still intact when even though he’s collapsed, Yakko summons his
strength and finishes the stunt despite everything. You can only imagine his shock when after
he’s done, he’s assigned to sing all the numbers above zero next week. At least the human emotions of shock are far
more believable since that’s a task that’s not just harder, but also something
no one can ever be finished with.
This is a fun noble attempt to follow
up on “Yakko’s World” though it doesn’t really come close to matching it in
terms of quality. While believable,
Yakko getting tired through singing all those words just sucks out the fun of
the animated nature of the series we’ve grown accustomed to. The direction makes sense for sure, but isn’t
what we’ve come to expect. It’s still
impressive that it’s highly enjoyable from the dramatic approach to
something so absurd regardless of everything.
A-
Cartoon Ranking
1. The Warners’ 65th Anniversary Special
2. Super Strong Warner Siblings
3. Baloney and Kids
4. Ragamuffins
5. Frontier Slappy
6. Woodstock Slappy
7. Deduces Wild
8. Wakko’s Gizmo
9. The Warners and the Beanstalk
10. Brain Meets Brawn
11. The Kid in the Lid
12. Morning Malaise
13. Meet John Brain
14. Yes, Always
15. Drive Insane
16. Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
17. Take My Siblings Please
18. A Hard Day’s Warners
19. Wakko’s New Gookie
20. Karaoke Dokie
21. Nutcracker Slappy
22. Witch One
23. Of Course, You Know This Means Warners
24. No Face Like Home
25. Meet Minerva
26. The Chicken Who Loved Me
27. Scare Happy Slappy
28. Bingo
29. Smell Ya Later
30. A Gift of Gold
31. Ups and Downs
32. Rest in Pieces
33. The Helpinki Formula
34. The Mindy 500
35. Les Boutons et le Ballon
36. Bad Mood Bobby
37. Whistle Stop Mindy
38. Gimme a Break
39. Three Tenors and You’re Out
40. Gold Rush
41. Method to Her Madness
42. Up a Tree
43. Cranial Crusader
44. Mermaid Mindy
45. Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson
46. With Three You Get Eggroll
47. Kung Boo
48. Pigeon on the Roof
49. The Brave Little Trailer
50. Girlfeathers
51. Super Buttons
52. We’re No Pigeons
53. Miami-Mama Mia
54. Fake
55. Katie Ka-Boom: Call Waiting
56. Katie Ka-Boon: The Blemish
57. Katie Ka-Boom: The Broken Date
Song Ranking
1. A Quake! A Quake!
2. Variety Speak
3. Schnitzelbank
4. I’m Mad
5. I’m Cute
6. U.N. Me
7. All the Words in the English Language
8. Dot’s Quiet Time
9. Coo
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Please, Please, Please Get a Life Foundation
2. The Tiger Prince
3. Branimaniacs
4. Previously on Animaniacs
5. Macbeth
6. Oh, Oh, Ethel
7. Spike
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last episode with a famous song about the presidents up to Bill Clinton, Pinky and the Brain's world domination plan with the Declaration of Independence, and the Flame returns to narrate the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
No comments:
Post a Comment