MC 'Toon Reviews

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

'Toon Reviews 22: Animaniacs Vol 2 Part 4: Draculee Draculaa/Phranken-Runt

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Episode 29

Draculee Draculaa

The following two episodes are examples of how well this show handles holidays. Since they both feature spooky-themed cartoons, this means they’re appropriate for Halloween. Episode 29’s Halloween spirit starts with this cartoon of the Warners encountering Dracula.

They’re on their way to Pennsylvania to meet their parents, pencils (get it?). If you ask me though, pencils should really be seen as God since they play a role in creating all cartoon characters. That aside, the true focus is on the kids, who are actually in Transylvania, finding a place to spend the night. In their usual cartoony fashion, they choose a scary castle over two convenient safer options letting the audience know that they’re just following the plot. This means they’re heading into danger and know it, but are brave enough to face it. After all, using hilarious antics to face any threat is what they do despite not many people doing so in real life.

The scary castle they stay at is home to Dracula, if the setting of Transylvania wasn’t obvious enough. His first impression is borderline intimidating, which would make the most appropriate response to be intimidated and scared. However, the Warners are as excited as ever to meet their vampire host with overly friendly greetings and comparing him to other vampires and caped figures of pop culture. These types of antics are really funny already, but the hilarity grows as much as the stakes do when Dracula sets his sight on sucking Dot’s blood.

For much of the cartoon from here, the vampire plots to do just that while also give the other Warners a fright. Through it all, the Warners are clearly wise to all of Dracula’s scheme, and delight with how they fight back through their winning brand of antics. Some of their antics are sticking to wild suggestions about him like talking to him like an Amish person based on how he’s dressed. Other antics dare to mock Dracula’s fearsome powers. An example is when he turns into a big vampire bat while Wakko nonchalantly flies up to him and whacks him with a baseball bat. The gag’s execution kind of makes you wish handling an actual vampire bat would be that easy.

The most effective antics however are those that completely catch you by surprise. The best one to me is when Dracula is alone with Dot who’s in bed and he’s finally ready to suck her blood. However each Warner suddenly pops in to rapidly and accurately guess the horrible thing he’s about to do, brush his fangs, and even rip them out for Dot to wear as earrings. Then they all throw Dracula’s scheme for a loop when they make him part of an impromptu slumber party. I bet most of you probably couldn’t even imagine Dracula in a scenario like that.

All these antics bring an interesting twist where Dracula, the supposed monster, is the one who’s terrified. It really goes to show how cartoons can make anything possible to outsmart enemies. In fact, it almost works too well since Dracula running scared of the Warners makes him a little too sympathetic for his legit torment. At least the Warners’ antics are still hilarious as they randomly appear in Dracula’s coffin to mess with him and expose him to the morning. Also, the cartoon is just about over by then, so the Warners just leave to really get to Pennsylvania this time…not before making Dracula destroy his castle though.

This cartoon astounds for how great the Warners stand against a famous monster with humor and charisma. It kind of makes you wonder who the real terror is.

Phranken-Runt

For this episode’s second spooky-themed cartoon, here’s an amazing combination of cartoonish humor and the soul and showiness of Rita and Runt. Cartoons of this cat and dog stand out from the others with stronger emphasis on drama and heartfelt ballads. Still, Rita and Runt can work in any background, including this one of a Frankenstein plot.

The featured mad scientist is a literal crooked woman and social outcast with an Elmer Fudd-like lisp, Dr. Phrankenstein. Her creative design, lively performance, and believable reasons for villainy make her an appealing antagonist. Along with her rat assistant, Mr. Squeak, Phrakenstein creates a monster dog named Scout to use to attack villages. The problems are that Scout is much more interested in being treated like a normal dog, and a single lightning shock ruins his brain. The latter problem moves the plot when Phrankenstein cabinet has many brains, including the small ones of TV executives, but no dog brains.

This is where Rita and Runt come in, having just gotten kicked out of another monster’s home and are trying for two. Their attempt is capitalized by one of the best aspects of these cartoons, Rita’s song. “Let’s Try For Two” is hands-down her best one in the series. The singing talents from Bernadette Peters along with the big band instrumentals are just lively. Even when she and Runt just explore the area surrounding Phrankenstein’s lab, the energy of the song makes it feel like more is happening. Finally, it advances the plot by getting Phrankenstein’s attention since she needs a dog brain, so she takes Runt in to extract his brain for Scout. The nature of Rita and Runt cartoons is really put to great use to have a song like that get the plot going.

What’s more, it subverts the usual formula with Rita needing to save Runt when most cartoons have it the other way around. All the while, Phrankenstein continues to charm as an antagonist through acting warm and loving towards Runt despite wanting to remove his brain. Speaking of Runt, his lack of intelligence, while making him a clueless victim, is also charming as he believes Phrankenstein strapping him to a table is her tucking him in for a nap. It also makes for a short humorous banter with Rita who responds with a gameshow question of how many brain cells a dog has after coming to save him. The following chase from Mr. Squeak as they both escape the castle adds to the excitement with a little action and physical comedy. Runt’s clumsiness is also productive there as he knocks over armor suits while running which stops Mr. Squeak in his tracks.

As for Scout, who’s revived by another sudden lightning blast, he proves to be fully aware of his surroundings despite behaving like a real dog instead of a monster. When Phrankenstein and Mr. Squeak pop his favorite ball, he defeats them before running off as his own dog. It’s actually nice for Scout to run off for a better life after his masters’ mistreatment went too far, even if he is a monster. Then the whole cartoon is capped off with a grand finish of one last worn out, yet endearing moment from Phrankenstein and a reprise of Rita’s earlier song.

For bringing together great theatrical qualities along with solid humor, action, and character interactions, this is easily one of, if not the best of Rita and Runt.

A+

Cartoon Ranking

Phranken-Runt
Jockey For Position
Sir Yaksalot
Potty Emergency
Draculee Draculaa
Babblin’ Bijou
I Got Yer Can
Moby or Not Moby
The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
Mesozoic Mindy

Miscellaneous Ranking

Testimonials
You Risk Your Life

The next Animaniacs review continue with the Halloween spirit as the Warners encounter Satan, Minerva Mink dates a werewolf, and Mr. Skullhead is featured in an Edward Scissorhands parody.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes' "Plazalympics."

If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 34: Glory Days

Glory Days

It was an interesting reveal that Carol and Mr. Gar were once part of the elite super hero team P.O.I.N.T.. Therefore, it’s very welcome to get cartoons that highlight that part of their lives. This is the first cartoon to look into such an era, and it’s an insightful one which explains a lot about the characters involved.

K.O. tells Carol about a report about teamwork he has to do for school. While he’s not supposed to get help from parents, Carol steps in to teach him everything she knows on the subject under her old hero name Silver Spark. This is where the flashback of her and Mr. Gar’s, i.e. El-Bow back then, first day at P.O.I.N.T. begins.

Right away, there’s a major contrast in approach to the first day. Silver Spark was excited about starting out right down decorating her locker well, akin to how her future son would approach being a hero. El-Bow’s feelings on being at P.O.I.N.T. are very different from what you’d expect. Rather than being confident, all-powerful, and authoritative like he is today as Mr. Gar, El-Bow was very nervous about starting out. Apparently, unlike young K.O. who’s always trying to be notices as a hero, El-Bow never actually expected to be a hero. He was only at P.O.I.N.T. because he was spotted fighting in a boxing ring at the time. It shows that he never had such aspirations, yet he’s now one of the most ultimate heroes.

Through it all, there’s an endearing charm to his chemistry with Silver Spark who encourages him to approach P.O.I.N.T. with confidence. It adds depth to how he has a crush on Silver Spark, now Carol, for showing that he sees more in her than just simple infatuation to appearance. She’s basically the reason El-Bow pushes himself to be the best hero he can, and from what we’ve seen throughout the season, this seems to have paid off greatly.

The flashback is also a good one to nicely allude to history repeating itself. In addition to Silver Spark’s optimism matching K.O.'s, the early days at P.O.I.N.T. for her, El-Bow, and a cute kangaroo-like creature Rippy Roo, involved them cleaning the facility. It's just like what K.O. usually does at the bodega. The cleaning was mostly used to exercise their powers which were put to the test when a rock creature bent on destroying P.O.I.N.T. shows up and the top members aren’t around. Throughout the battle, Silver Spark’s encouragement to El-Bow helped him determine how to beat the creature more confident than ever. Even when it didn’t work, Silver Spark was quick to understand teamwork. They both combined their powers to defeat the creature down to the eyeball that Silver Spark still has today.

The junior P.O.I.N.T. members getting true recognition for how well they handled the fight is a fitting end for the flashback. Still things remain interesting with Silver Spark showing more interest in a top hero, Laserblast. It adds drama to this newly formed relationship by leading one to wonder if Silver Spark and El-Bow, or Carol and Mr. Gar, can really work out despite proving to be a good team. The answer to that becomes clear later, but for now we’re left with a great story with interesting character reveals teaching that teamwork is just like math but much more fun.

A+

The Ranking

Face Your Fears

You Have to Care

T.K.O.

No More Pow Cards

Glory Days

Legends of Mr. Gar

We’ve Got Pests

I Am Dendy

Let’s Have a Stakeout

You Get Me

Let’s Be Heroes

You’re Everybody’s Sidekick

K.O.’s Video Channel

Jethro’s All Yours

Know Your Mom

Everybody Likes Rad?

A Hero’s Fate

Plaza Prom

We’re Captured

My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad

Let’s Be Friends

We Messed Up

Presenting Joe Cuppa

Sibling Rivalry

Second First Date

Stop Attacking the Plaza

Just Be a Pebble

The Power is Yours

Do You Have Any More in the Back?

You’re Level 100

You Are Rad

We’ve Got Fleas

Rad Likes Robots

One Last Score

The next OK K.O. review covers K.O. competing in the Plazalympics with teammates even smaller and weaker than him.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is Episode 29 of Animaniacs.

If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Monday, October 1, 2018

'Toon Reviews 22: Animaniacs Vol 2 Part 3: Moby or Not Moby/Mesozoic Mindy/The Good the Boo and the Ugly

Episode 28

Moby or Not Moby

Because they’re so versatile with where they pop up, the Warners can make an entertaining cartoon out of any situation they’re placed in.

This time, they suddenly appear on the deck of the ship, Pequod, belonging to Captain Ahab and his crew hunting the great white whale, Moby Dick. They’re comic sensibilities here are mostly used to treat being part of this whale hunt as if they’re on a cruise. It's a perfect example of their strength in remaining upbeat and positive in a serious situation. How they roll with their interpretation of where they are no matter how off base it is brings a fair share of jokes and visual gags. They insist that some of Ahab’s crew are cruise attendants, and use the ship for like min-golf or waterskiing.

As you’d probably expect, the true nature of where the Warners have ended up makes itself clear when Ahab is quick to reach his limit with the kids’ antics. He preaches his goal to capture Moby Dick to them and forces them to aid in the search since they’re stowaways. Even with the truth revealed, it’s great that the Warners hold stick to their humorous approach to the bad situation. They may be forced into hunting labor, but that doesn’t stop them from making many more rapid-fire jokes. Also, being up against a pompous, self-absorbed, irrational captain like Ahab is makes their victim a great target for the many ways they taunt and mess with him. The funniest mind game they play to me would have to be in response to the statement, “Thare she blows” which then cuts to Dot randomly acting like Louis Armstrong.

At the same time, there are a few times where the Warners’ role flounders into the preachy category when they’re very open about Ahab calling off his whale hunt. Unlike in the original Moby Dick where Ahab was after the whale for revenge of the loss of his leg, here he wants to capture him to make goods out of his blubber and oil. That's the simple reason why most whalers do what they do. By the way, I only know this tidbit about the original story because I read an article about it. I never actually read the book. Anyway, with Ahab's motives made so basic, the Warners' advocates for him to spare the whale feel like vague statements on how it’s not worth it. There really isn't any genuine weight to their arguments such as what the whale means to them. Maybe if there was a comedic twist like Moby being their pet or something, it would come off stronger.

Even if it can be shallow as an anti-whaling cartoon, what keeps it standing strong is the fact that there’s still plenty of room for comedy. A big example is a lively sea shanty where the Warners swing and drop Ahab all over the ship while saying “killing whales is stupid.” To finish it all, there’s another funny display of the Warners messing with Ahab in various ways culminating with Moby Dick eating him up. Even the only rescue ships coming from the Warners being associated with disasters has good humor.

The structure as a standard preachy anti-whaling short makes this cartoon not as humorous as it could’ve been. Still, there's a good amount of solid laughs and entertainment from the Warners going up against the featured antagonist warrants checking it out.

A-

Mesozoic Mindy

Try not to let the change in setting and time period fool you. No matter where a Mindy and Buttons cartoon unfolds, the content is almost always routine. Mindy begins the short in a harness. Her parents tell Buttons to watch her as they leave. Mindy breaks free to chase something cute prompting Buttons to go after her, and chaos ensues that gets Buttons hurt. Mindy still gets home safe while Buttons gets scolded for somehow breaking a specific rule. Even if the premise is formulaic, there’s enough appeal to these characters. They’re really cute for one thing, and the different settings have their own assortment of suitable gags and explorations. This fits animation’s quality of transporting audiences anywhere. The latter positive aspect is prominent here set in prehistoric times giving a whole new atmosphere.

It’s apparent in the opening scene of dinosaurs grazing in a field and then looking up at something off screen stomping toward them suggesting a different approach. Then at the last second, the stomping is revealed to come from Mindy as a cave girl. It’s obvious we’ll be getting the same Mindy and Buttons setup from here, but it’s an effective play on expectations. Adding to the atmosphere is the caveman talk. In my experience, prehistoric cartoons usually don’t come off as very entertaining mainly because of the inaudible language. It may be reflective of the dawn of time, but it just feels like people walking around like mindless fools speaking gibberish, which isn’t much fun. Here, the caveman talk is much more tolerable since gibberish words are comically put between comprehensible English terms. Mindy, meanwhile, is completely out of the setup and talks as normal as ever.

The caveman talk also makes for some decent jokes. During the part where Mindy asks what two people are doing and why, and every question is greeted with inaudible mumbling. A following scene of them discovering the wheel and fire where they mumble about their findings and top it off with an audible “Who knew?” also works in a comedic sense. There's something funny about deadpan and blunt responses to such huge discoveries.

As for Buttons, here a sabretooth dinosaur creature, the ways he gets hurt while chasing Mindy who runs after an egg with a hatching dinosaur, while not really bad, aren't all that funny. They’re mostly just him running into dinosaurs who either give him mad looks for climbing on him or slam him into the ground which don’t lead to any funny expressions. There are some strong humorous bits. They include Buttons running uncontrollably on a caveman’s wheel and getting himself eaten whole by a mountain lion who he beats up while inside. However, that’s only a few strong gags out of several average ones.

There are also genuine stakes when Mindy faces the real danger of a mother dinosaur looking for her baby. It's an interesting change of pace since Mindy doesn’t notice the trouble she’s in. Even so, she doesn’t see this is a big deal, prompting a great moment from Buttons to protect her. It doesn’t last long since the mother backs off when her baby finally hatches and flings Mindy and Buttons back home. We may not get a lot of great bravery from Buttons back there, but his protection of Mindy is nicely followed up by a hug from her in the end. As proven before, moments like these make his usual scolding more tolerable.

On the whole, this cartoon is mostly standard Mindy and Buttons fare, but with a few solid gags and a nice take on the prehistoric setting, it’s worth checking out as something fun.

The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly

While we’re on the subject of formulaic characters in the cast, we close this episode with a Chicken Boo cartoon. There’s not much to go into with the premise of this guy’s starring roles. He enters wearing an elaborate disguise along with an elaborate description of how great he is at something. Only one person seeing him as the giant chicken he is, and when the disguise comes off, that one person is proven right and an angry mob chases Chicken Boo away. What makes it stand out though is its relatability to how difficult it is to make it big in certain professions.

Also working in its favor is the absurdity of the idea of a realistically portrayed giant chicken being seen as so amazing brought to life. Each part of the formula even has some variety to how it’s staged. This is because this odd premise is able to fit into any genre, such as that of this cartoon, a Spaghetti Western. The genre is hilariously depicted by a scene of two Western residents eating spaghetti though a subtitle explaining the joke really is not needed. The Western motifs give the oncoming Chicken Boo formula a unique feel from the look of the setting, the background music, and the way people talk.

It also stands out for there being a need for Chicken Boo to come as opposed to most appearances where he’s already present and ready to do his thing. As in most Westerns, outlaws are rampant in the featured town, and there are no sheriffs around to stop them, so Chicken Boo arrives on the scene as a new sheriff. His more elaborate than usual disguise hiding his identity and his traits emotionless state as a realistic chicken work in his favor as a figure with no personality. If you think about it, that's the best way to describe someone who’d dare face an outlaw, and it’s this quality of his that grants him the town’s trust to face the outlaw. It’s funny enough to see a huge chicken walk into the fray of a Western battle. The impressive thing about the setup is that Chicken Boo impressively disarms the outlaw and ties him up all while never breaking from his usual posture.

He’s so impressive in the heat of battle that it’s kind of unfair that he’s chased off for being revealed as a chicken in the end. Maybe it’s because the townspeople have an apparent thing against chicken feathers, but this chicken just saved their freedom. Why does it even matter who he really is? It goes to show that the formulaic nature has its ups and downs. They have their own distinctive feel for the genre they tie into, but ending every cartoon with Chicken Boo being chastised for his species isn’t always tolerable. At least that’s more than I can say for Mindy and Buttons cartoons which have the same feel no matter what and the mean-spirited ending is mostly always intolerable.

Anyhow, if you’re into anything of the Western genre, with the Chicken Boo formula intact, this cartoon is an interesting one to see to say the least.

B+