How's It Hold Up?

After giving Rankin/Bass' take on Tolkien's work a shot, the next logical step was to check out Bakshi's. Given the reputation of the man and his work, we started the movie with some amount of trepidation... but how did we feel by the end? Does this movie easily beat out Rankin/Bass' efforts? Does it compete with Peter Jackson's live action takes? Or is this one best left in th...

This week we watch another Disney cartoon, but no Mickey this time, we're back to the Silly Symphonies! They haven't yet made the leap to color, but this one feels a bit important with its focus on dramatic story beats over gags and the fact that it was eventually remade years later for the very last Silly Symphony. Is this older version worthwhile on its own merits, or is it begging to be...

The time has come to view the animated history of JRR Tolkien's seminal works. Today we look at Rankin/Bass' interpretations for the first time, along with a guest, Marie, who has been watching these versions since she was a child. Do both these works do their source material justice, or are you better off seeking out the live-action adaptations? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin...

It's time for some fun in the sun with Mickey Mouse and friends! Which still does not include Donald or Goofy - they don't exist at this point! But Pluto, Minnie, Horace and Clarabelle sure do. It's one of the few chances the latter two have to try to shine before they become little more than cameo characters, so does this cartoon make the most of their charms? Listen to find out! The...

After the financial and critical failure that was The Black Cauldron, Disney needed a hit in order to prove their animation division was still viable in the current market. Fortunately, this movie proved to be it, even if it was not as big a hit as most of the films in the 90s would prove to be. Yet despite how critical the film is to the Disney Renaissance, it often feels overlooked in favor of i...

Another Merrie Melodies short, and another attempt at a starring character. This time it's Piggy, who is NOT a forerunner of Porky. We're unfortunately a long ways away from Porky. But how's this older pig character, and more importantly, how's his cartoon? Does he, in fact, know what he's doing? The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:...

We're going back to Russia for this film, and this time, they've got some life lessons to teach us. Do these lessons hold up, and perhaps more importantly, are the story and characters enjoyable? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Kool Kats Kevin MacLeo...

It's time for another Mickey Mouse cartoon! This time Mickey and his friends (not yet including Donald and Goofy) are putting on a radio broadcast, and everyone's listening, even Pluto! This cartoon isn't necessarily historically important, but is it fun to watch? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 L...

It's time to check out another Makoto Shinkai film! This isn't one we see talked about, perhaps because it lives in the shadow of the film that came after it, Your Name. The only thing we knew before going into this was that it would be beautiful. But is it good? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licens...

Though the two series are often just collectively described as "Looney Tunes", there are two series of cartoon shorts that wind up featuring classic characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The second series is called "Merrie Melodies", and the series' first attempt at a cartoon star was Foxy, who appeared in this and two other shorts. Foxy clearly didn't have what it...

Amblimation only ever made three animated films. And while Balto is fondly remembered by 90s kids and American Tail: Fievel Goes West is at least remembered by American Tail fans, the third film, the middle child of the quasi-trilogy, is rarely talked about anymore. Today we ask the question: is We're Back! forgotten to time because it deserves to be, or is this a hidden gem? Listen to find ou...

There are some cartoons that animators love, that inspires wave after wave of creator over the year as each generation rediscovers it. For some, this is one of those cartoons. Featuring Bimbo and a cameo from Betty Boop, this cartoon is considered by many to be one of the Fleischer's best. But in the year 2022, does that still ring true? Is this still a fun short to watch so many years later?...

Oliver & Company was a safe bet on all fronts. It was loaded with celebrity voice talent, had popular musicians making music for it, and was a talking-dog movie, one of Disney's more common and beloved movie categories. But it didn't do as well as expected, being beat in its opening weekend by The Land Before Time. Disney was not back on top yet. It would take their next film - The Lit...

Pluto is here and he's here to stay! This is technically the 1st cartoon that "Pluto" appears in, though a dog named "Rover" who looks exactly the same and belongs to Minnie debuted a few months earlier in a different cartoon. But that dog was in a pretty small amount of that cartoon, whereas in this one, Pluto is the star of the show. Also Mickey is here, and he's hunt...

Our final holiday episode is a strange feature about three homeless people living in Tokyo who encounter a trash baby and go on a wild adventure or self-discovery. It's a messy movie in a lot of respects, and won't be to everyone's tastes, but more importantly... is it to ours? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Att...

This time we have another short featuring Betty Boop, and this one's got a few twists and turns in it! This is not a facet of most of the cartoons we've seen in this era. Additionally, Betty has a different vocal performance than usual! It's a wild ride full of bandits, trains and not-Mickey Mouse, but is it actually fun to watch? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (in...

Rankin Bass has produced many animated specials that have gone on to be considered classics. Most of those specials have been stop-motion animation, but one of the most popular - the original Frosty the Snowman - uses traditional animation. The special proved popular enough to spawn multiple sequels, the first of which aired in 1976, and gives Frosty a wife, Crystal. How do either of these frosty...

In the late 90s and early 2000s, everyone was putting out cheap animated Christmas movies. And that definitely includes Disney, with their multiple Winnie the Pooh holiday-themed releases, and, of course, Mickey Mouse christmas movies. But unlike the much earlier Mickey Christmas Carol and Pauper shorts, these are movies comprised of brand-new shorts, and they are tv-quality animation, rather than...

In today's episode: Mickey goes to prison! We don't know what he did but he sure doesn't seem to feel bad about it. Also, the proto version of a mainline Disney character! Is it your favorite? Maybe, I don't know your life. Will this cartoon be your new favorite? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3....

Film restoration is much more a thing now than it was in the 1970s. So in the 70s, when the original treasured Soyuzmultfilm "The Humpbacked Horse" was in a state of disrepair, they didn't have the ability to restore it, so they just remade the whole thing from scratch! Decades later, when the technology to restore the original came along, they did so, and now both films exist as opt...

We've seen the Fleischer bros first cartoon star, but it's time to meet their first cartoon superstar. Betty Boop comes in a form and with a prominence that might be surprising to some - she is not human and she is a bit character in a cartoon starring her eventual boyfriend, Bimbo. Yet some of her core attributes are already there - her general body type and look and her voice, in particu...

While the story of The Thief and the Cobbler is an all-around tragedy, the story of The King and the Mockingbird, which suffered some similar production woes, is one of triumph. Originally released in 1952 against the creator's wishes and in  a form they were unhappy with, the film was eventually completed and rereleased in 1980. What is this movie, based on the tale of the Shepheress and the...

It's time for another Mickey cartoon! In this one, we meet some of Mickey's pals - but that doesn't mean Donald or Goofy, oh no. Those two are still a ways away. Instead, it's Clarabelle Cow's first appearance, and the first time on the podcast that we've seen Horace Horsecollar! These two faded into obscurity after Donald and Goofy came on the scene, but Clarabelle, at lea...

The 2021 Halloween Spookaboo reaches its end with a movie that was too scary for Jan to watch! This is a short, gory horror action anime film that proved popular enough in Japan to spawn multiple sequels and spin-offs. It certainly proves spooky enough, but in the end, is this flick worth watching? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Common...

We managed to get a Halloween-appropriate short in before the holiday season is over! This is not the first Silly Symphony short, but it is an early one and is arguably the most famous of the lot. As you might surmise from the title, it mostly involves skeletons dancing. But the question is... is that enough to make it a compelling short nearly 100 years after it was created? Listen to find out! T...