How's It Hold Up?

(Spoiler Section Length: 2min 59sec) Starting off our 2026 Spookaboo, we have a fairly obscure movie that seems to be a Japanese take on a modern (for the 60s) fairytale. It's an odd little film with demon children, talking animals and lots of bone architecture. It's also from the 60s so expect a few trippy moments. Is it any good, and does it hold up for the modern (2020s) viewer? Let&#39...

The end of the 30s was, obviously, a stressful time for global politics, and this definitely had an effect on cartoons of the time, though this effect would become much more pronounced in the 40s. These two cartoons represent the American stance on the boiling tensions of the time, to varying degrees of artistry and bluntness. Are either of them good, especially so long after the time period they...

(Spoiler Section Length: 8min 50sec) It's finally happened - the 2nd shelved Looney Tunes movie has been released, and we went and saw it in theaters! Besides The Day the Earth Blew Up, all Looney Tunes films have been live-action/animation hybrids, so that begs the question... how does this hold up compared to the Space Jams and Back in Action? And how is it as a movie, overall? Was it worth...

The Looney Tunes (and Merrie Melodies) series are typically thought of as funny, or at the very least trying to be. But what happens when they try to step out of the comedy lane, into something more... prestigious? And very patriotic. Is the resulting cartoon worth watching? Let's find out!

(Spoiler Section Length: 6min 36sec) In Disney's long history of filmmaking, there are some movies the company would prefer you forget. Of these, perhaps none is more infamous than Song of the South. Frequently derided for being racist and boring, today we finally tackle it to find out, is it really as bad as everyone says? Should it be included on Disney+? Does this thing hold up, even a litt...

The end of the 30s marks the fall of Mickey Mouse and the rise of Donald Duck, who would be Disney's predominant cartoon star throughout the 40s and 50s. In these two shorts we see increasing refinement of the Donald vs. the Nephews formula, and the first instance of Mickey's villain Pete showing up in a solo Donald effort. Do these cartoons show why Donald ended up becoming such a huge su...

(Spoiler Section Length: 19min 16sec) So after a hit Disney movie has been made, and people are clamoring for more, what options are there to give them that? There's sequels, obviously, a very popular choice. There's remakes, a current trend that some people hope will die at some point. And there's the even less common tv spinoff maneuver. But what about... the stage? There's actua...

Among the various Warner Bros cartoon directors, many are well-remembered today even by casual fans, and even more are remembered by those obsessed with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. But also some are rightfully forgotten. Generally speaking, Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton are among that latter group, even if they do deserve some recognition for their contributions to Bugs Bunny. But w...

(Spoiler Section Length: 6min 13sec) When it comes to Disney animated sequels, there's an accepted canon when it comes to which ones are half-decent and which are the bottom of the barrel. In that canon, Return of Jafar is often considered the latter, but this podcast doesn't exactly agree with that opinion. What then of Hunchback II, which is also often considered among the worst? It's often deri...

We've checked in once before with Friz Freleng while he's away from Warner Bros, with a Captain and the Kids short. Today we watched another short in that series and also another solo short. Is his output getting any better than his early Warner Bros days? Let's find out!!

(Spoiler Section Length: 10min 18sec) Of all the many Disney adaptations over the years, one of the most divisive is Hunchback of Notre Dame. Lauded by many for its darker tone compared to most Disney works but derided by others for Disney-ifying the source material with additions like the gargoyles or changes like the ending, it's a work whose reputation is hard to easily quantify. So what di...

Chuck Jones is given a lot of the blame for Daffy Duck's personality shifting over the years, and I don't think it's entirely fair to lay that all upon his shoulders. That said, he is PART of the equation, and we see some signs of what Daffy would become even in this very first cartoon directed by Jones that features him. So okay, sure, it's got historical value, but is it any good...

(Spoiler Section Length 7min 20sec) Well we've watched the first two Digimon movies, we've watched the English Digimon Movie, so it only makes sense that we finally wrap around to watching the third Digimon film—which is actually the 3rd and 4th films, technically—so we can finish this whole Digimon saga off cleanly. And admittedly, this is the part of the English Digimon Movie that I was...

She's had a... well a sometimes-good run, but Betty Boop's time in the classic cartoon theatrical shorts era is coming to a close. In this episode we look at the final Boop cartoon that we'll be covering on the podcast, and talk a little about the remaining shorts in the series. And then we answer the question of if this is a decent way for Betty to go, and whether this or the shorts t...

When one thinks back on the era of anime localization that existed in the 90s and eary 2000s, several things come to mind: a desire to remove all Japanese cultural references. A need to never let the soundtrack be silent. A desire for extra jokes. Any and all edges sanded down, no matter how much the script must be rewritten to make it happen. And all of those issues appear in this particular film...

At this point in our viewing of Warner Bros shorts, two classic Looney Tunes stars have fully appeared (Porky & Daffy), one is nearly arrived (Elmer Fudd) and another inches ever forward, but still eludes us. That upcoming star is of course the biggest of them all: Bugs Bunny. In these two shorts we see bits and pieces of the rabbit who will one day charm the world, but the hare in these short...

When movies in one language are brought over to another, whether through subtitles or dubbing, something is always lost, to at least some extent, even when translated with the best of intentions. But sometimes things are translated with less than good intentions, with more of an eye toward making them palatable to another audience than faithfully representing the original work. This sort of transl...

Remakes are a tricky thing, especially nowadays. If the original was already good, what does remaking it offer? But when the original was already an adaptation of another work, there's always the possibility that a remake could be more faithful to that work, or even just interpret it differently. Such is the case with this final Silly Symphony, which adapts a classic fable that the series had...

With a recently-released new adaption of this classic novella stirring controversy, we decided to take a look at the original adaption, the one often used in classrooms. While it has its deviations, it overall sticks much closer to the source material, though it also has a notably small budget that effects the quality of the animation and the size of the vocal cast. Is this version of Orwell's...

The Popeye cartoons tend to fall into something of a pattern: Popeye and Bluto are both interested in Olive Oyl, and they fight about it. But what if they... didn't? This self-aware cartoon comedically interrogates the violence at the heart of your typical Popeye cartoon, with the iconic trio being tasked to avoid brutality for the day. Does this result in a good cartoon, or is this one best s...

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 6sec) The final film in the original Muppets trilogy is one that is frustratingly difficult to find, compared to the two before it. It's not available on the same streaming services as the other two! It's in fact had weird distribution rights for a long time, and that combined with the lack of a digital soundtrack and a more grounded tone than the others has...

When it comes to classic fairytales, they're often used as fodder for cartoon shenanigans, so much so that you can compare multiple versions of the same fairytale from the same studio over the years. But in this case we're focused on two different studios making a cartoon based on the same source material in the same year, but with wildly different budgets and directorial styles. Do either...

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 50sec) One might expect the second Muppet Movie to follow in the tracks of its predecessor, another tale about the Muppets origins, perhaps them forming the Muppet Show or something like that. But instead Henson opted to create a genre film, a heist film combined with a full-blown musical, tap-dancing and water ballet galore. Does this unexpected direction yield enjo...

We start the year off with the final Mickey Mouse cartoon to feature him in his original design - after this one he'll start looking like he does in Fantasia! Unfortunately, though, this short is also part of the trend that would only get worse of making Mickey Mouse cartoons glorified Pluto cartoons. Do either of these aspects affect the quality of the cartoon, and is it still worth watching...

(Spoiler Section Length - 4min 6sec) Way back in the first season of our podcast, we covered one Muppet movie, and the time has finally come to cover more! Now we're looking at the very first of the many Muppet films, made while the classic Muppet Show seasons were still being made. And appropriately, this one focuses on how the gang got together, using a road trip format to do it. And, of cou...