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Episode 90
Pitter
Patter of Little Feet
There
are many interesting elements to this cartoon, many of which relating to the
characters in the spotlight. Now, it’s
well-known that the Hip Hippos aren’t very strong lead characters on their own
and are truly at their best when working off funnier and more dynamic
characters. That’s the route this
cartoon takes while playing to the classic Warner Bros cartoon convention of a
stork mixing up a baby delivery.
The
catch here is that the baby in question relates to another world domination
scheme from the Brain. One thing I’d
like to point out is that the twist that Brain is the baby is given away if you
look closely after the stork stumbles on the Hip Hippos’ doorstep. Regardless, it’s still quite a sight that two
massive hippos act as parents to one little mouse. The reason Brain is pulling this off is
because he’s trying to come off as the newborn baby of the Rockefeller family
and get their money to take over the world.
The whole thing is marked by really bad acting as he gives a very
half-hearted ‘goo’ to convince the Hippos that he’s their baby while often
being expected to be taken to the money.
As the Hip Hippos have been established to be some of the densest and
dumbest characters in the cast, it’s not surprising that they just go along with the setup. They put Brain
through all the typical baby nurturing customs that are funnier when you
consider really big hippos doing them to a little mouse. Taking a bath means getting majorly scratched
by a scrub brush and a diaper change comes with getting poked where it doesn’t
show. There’s also a humorous trip to
the doctor where even he sees Brain as a hippo resulting in various extreme
gags. One in particular is when
Brain’s infected with a booster shot meant for hippos resulting in humorous over
bloated shapes and color changes. This
trip to the doctors also leads to the Hip Hippos proceeding to feed Brain more
as they suction feed a vast assortment of pureed food into his mouth.
Normally Brain’s torment would be too much to
bear, but it’s actually par for the course when it comes to normally
miscalculating crucial steps in his world domination plans. When posing as a baby, he basically brought
the overbearing nurturing on himself, and he just happens to be parented by
oblivious hippos who can’t take parenthood seriously. That said, insult is added to injury when
Brain discovers a baby hippo was delivered to the Rockefeller family, sending him into what’s perceived as an infantile tantrum.
Even his spurts of intellectual insults at the Hip Hippos is seen as
repeating words learned on TV.
After
scenes of his outbursts getting him nowhere, the stork does come to swap the
babies to the proper place. However,
Brain still gets nowhere with his plan, for even if the Rockefellers are richer
and smarter than the Hip Hippos, they too don’t take parenting seriously. They leave Brain in the care of the servants
who chase him to nurture him. Before
things get equally torturous, it turns out the whole cartoon was just a dream. This is a case where Brain’s plan actually
goes nowhere, although there is room for one last gag when the real Rockefeller
baby is found in his and Pinky’s cage.
Maybe there is validity to what was seen after all.
Either way, this cartoon is a familiar
concept with a fresh approach brought to entertaining effect.
A
Mindy in
Wonderland
The
Mindy and Buttons cartoons have been long and formulaic, but now we’ve come to
the final one of the series. Continuing
the welcome albeit slight change of pace of placing them in pop culture icons
and film genres instead of just a certain setting, this one puts them in Alice in Wonderland. A story known for nonsensical and imaginative
scenes that make up the plot feels like a good fit for animation which can
bring anything to life. That said, the
imaginative feel isn’t exactly felt since this show has a tendency to parody
other versions of the story rather than give its own take on things. What’s present for the cartoon is still fun
though even if it does work in logic in what’s meant to be a nonsensical story.
Mindy obviously poses as Alice right down to a
costume change, and there’s build-up to her going after a white rabbit as she
plays with a stuffed one. She casts it
aside when she finds the real White Rabbit, who unlike in the original
story, says exactly what he’s tardy to which is a croquet party, and decides to
go after him. This begins the expected
chase where Mindy follows the White Rabbit as Buttons follows Mindy which leads
them all down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.
With this being the last Mindy and Buttons cartoon, it’s fitting that the
trip down the hole has callbacks to previous ones. The lollipop from their first cartoon is a
given, but it’s surprising that it also features a clown car and a train from
cartoons of the cobbled leftover episodes.
After that is a run through familiar Wonderland sights with a twist
exclusive to the show. The Mad Hatter’s
tea party has the Hatter himself speak in rhyme while swapping tea for
expresso. A house has cookies and milk
set out that change sizes to make everyone small enough to fit through a
mouse hole or big enough to break through the roof. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum makes for an
honestly lame Dumb and Dumber reference. There’s also an appearance from the Cheshire
Cat, who may or may not be Rita based on Bernadette Peters voicing her.
The
chase ends at that croquet party where Mindy meets the Queen of Hearts. Something interesting is done with her
tendencies of calling all women “Lady” as it’s what puts her on trial. That said, she’s completely unaware of danger
as she’s quick to jump on top of the White Rabbit for a piggyback ride. All throughout this adventure, it’s hard to
tell what it’s modeling after. I mean,
character designs, some verses, and the general structure bring the Disney
version of Alice in Wonderland to
mind. However, things like the Dumb and
Dumber reference and the look of the Queen of Hearts mimicking the original
book illustrations take away from that feel.
Also, sticking closely to mocking other versions of the story takes away
from any feel of nonsense which is disappointing given that’s one of the tones
of this show.
At least there’s a shred
of nonsense found when Mindy and Buttons flinging into the air suddenly sends
them back home, which is a fresh take on the original story’s concept of
return. In addition, while Buttons does
get scolded by Mindy’s mom for wrecking a rose bush, the blow is lessened as he
makes things better by giving her a rose.
As an extra measure, a hug from Mindy claiming he’s better than a fuzzy
bunny is always a welcome end to a cartoon.
By extension, it’s also a strong end to the Mindy and Buttons series in
general. While it may falter slightly in
taking on Alice in Wonderland, the
featured characters go out in charmingly entertaining style.
A-
Ralph’s
Wedding
The
purpose of this short segment is to simply showcase an absurd concept, as suggested by a lack of a title card. As that is the general nature of the series,
this is barely an issue.
It invests the
audience with a setup for a wholesome wedding.
This feel is further built upon when it cuts to the inside of a church where
many members of the cast shed tears of joy over the couple about to be
wed. Ralph is the character standing at
the alter alongside his bride, her figure concealed. As they say their vows, the bride turns out
to actually be Chicken Boo, and instead of one person calling this out,
everyone can see the truth. In a twist
that’s funny and refreshing for the character, when Ralph is called out that he
cannot possibly marry a chicken, he doesn’t care about the claims. He plans to go through with the wedding
because he loves chicken.
While it’s
very refreshing for Chicken Boo to be loved despite who he is, this turns out
to be a dream. However it makes sense as
Ralph and his established wife were dreaming of that because they were eating
fried chicken while in bed.
That’s all
there is to this segment. It uses a
wholesome wedding to build up a joke, and it works thanks to a play on
expectations and solid use of characters.
A
Cartoon Ranking
1. This Pun for Hire
2. Wakko’s 2-Note Song
3. Go Fish
4. From Burbank with Love
5. A Very, Very, Very, Very Special Show
6. Valuable Lesson
7. The Sound of Warners
8. Night of the Living Buttons
9. Dot’s Entertainment
10. Pitter Patter of Little Feet
11. Boo Happens
12. Buttons in Ows
13. Cutie and the Beast
14. Star Truck
15. Boids on the Hood
16. Our Final Space Cartoon We Promise
17. Yabba Dabba Boo
18. The Boo Network
19. The Party
20. The Girl with the Googily Goop
21. Mindy in Wonderland
22. Jokahontas
23. Gimme the Works
24. Ten Short Films About Wakko
25. Papers for Papa
26. My Mother the Squirrel
27. One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock
28. Amazing Gladiators
29. Soda Jerk
30. Hercules Unwound
31. Belly Button Blues
32. No Time For Love
33. Oh Say Can You See
34. Soccer Coach Slappy
35. Anchors A-Warners
Song Ranking
1. The Ballad of Magellan
2. Hello Nurse
3. Noel
4. The Big Wrap Party Tonight
5. When You’re Traveling from Nantucket
6. Panama Canal
7. Multiplication
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Gunga Dot
2. Mighty Wakko at the Bat
3. Ralph’s Wedding
4. End Credits
5. Rugrats Parody
6. The 12 Days of Christmas
7. Flavio Commercials
8. The Return of the Great Wakkorotti
9. Pinky and the Ralph
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode with jabs at cheap older animated series, and information on bones in the body.
If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
