One Froggy Evening - Funniest Moment

 

If you were going to choose what Looney Tunes director I choose best, it'll be a hard shot. Because I love Bob Clampett's expressively drawn characters. Robert McKimson was best for the acting department and Friz Freleng made some solid concepts.

Now who am I missing? Oh yeah. Chuck Jones. While I do have some praise for his cartoons, their all not enjoyable. Heck I feel like that with Clampett and McKimson too. But when Jones makes good, he makes it REALLY good. 

That's how I feel about One Froggy Evening. This short had more laughs outta me more than any other Looney Tunes cartoon because of one moment. 

It starts with a man trying to budge a cornerstone to find a singing frog inside the box.

This frog is a legend. Definitely the more memorable one-shot characters.

What I like about Chuck Jones's cartoons nowadays is that we relate to some of the characters. The realistic and cynical expressions they give off. It's quite an outstanding experiment of animation for the 50s.

My outlook on Chuck Jones is that he was quite talented for the golden age of animation, but I don't really decide where to begin with his later shorts as he made Tom and Jerry cartoons that were more boring than the Hanna Barbera ones and he was pushing boundaries by making too many Pepe Le Pew and Roadrunner shorts that it became tiring to me. 

My favorite era for Jones is from 1950-55. Excluding the Pepe's and Coyote's. This was when he was like McKimson with the acting and amazing human characters.

I learned once that no dialogue still has a point. And I stand by that corrected. Sometimes it doesn't work like with some of Fantasia's segments or the Pink Panther shorts but I think when your going for a complete narrative. This is the right way to do it.

What made me laugh at this sequence is that despite the frog having a talented singing voice, he can only entertain it by the man who freed him. He surpringly can't affect it by other beings which is just so creative. 

While putting these shots together, I was still chuckling at these. They feel like they needed to become memes or something. 

I love the extra detail when the man is trying to make the frog smile. 

70 years later we would still be as uninterested as this guy.

I think the key to having more fun drawing in the world of animation is just letting your heart out instead of leaving it and making a sell-out. This picture you see here is one of my favorite frames in film history right alongside this frame from Rabbit Of Seville.

I think if Michigan J Frog would've been more amusing he would have potential to become a classic character but I don't mind his dead look he gives to us. It's hilarious.

This short has amazing stiff poses like when the owner shows the frog again while he stops singing, and more funny expressions.

The rest of the cartoon is solid too. I definitely love this sketchy house. It reminds me of One Hundred One Dalmatians. 

However it's definitely not the most flawless. In the final scene, where everything is futuristic, there's this final scene involving another man using disintegration to demolish the cornerstone.

Then this happens.

Yeah, their was this continuity error of Michigan J Frog singing, the backgrounds don't fit in. They re-used the animation from earlier and still you can see the detail of some of the junk piles from the first scene of the picture, there is barely any mess involved. Yeah, I didn't catch it when I first watched it but yeah that was distracting. 

Chow Hound (1951)

 

This week has been hard.

I have forgotten all about this cartoon. It's probably the best short I seen as of now. I remember loving it when I first watched it, just because of how hilarious the writing was and the horrific ending punchline.

Yes it does have some side of cruelty, but in the best possible ways. It's one of the more manly adult cartoons you'll see.

The reason why I felt like I didn't talk about this one that much before it's because people might think I'm crazy for loving abuse, and dark comedy in a hard time we're living in.

The dog is like Charlie Dog if he drank cans of Red Bull and ate Thanksgiving food on a regular basis. 

I also like the posing throughout this cartoon. It's some of the best you'll ever see and honestly needs to be studied by animators. 

Usually I'm not a fan of mean-spirited cartoons like Life With Feathers and Fresh Airedale, but I think it's because in a strict sense I didn't like the dragged out pacing, and nonsensical plot lines. 

What makes this one such a legendary  masterpiece is that the dog and cat aren't generic and the improved animation from the animation crew makes it fit the feeling and emotion alot more.

The backgrounds are really stunning. If this scene took place in the daytime that would be a little weird, given that at the night hour, people are more drawn to be doing tough stuff.

This isn't going for a sweet and sappy Casper The Friendly Ghost format. It's the opposite, and what I came here to see. Normally I don't like when people get smacked in the face but something about it being in a 75 year old cartoon feels different.

The plot is also genius. It's really hard to nail something this masterful as a dog asking for gravy.

Still-poses can be really expressive. Chuck's animation crew mastered that type of movement back in the early 50s. I tend to not like alot of his work by that time, but hey the animation was still solid and expertly crafted.

This was 1951, and Chuck Jones made some very good cartoons. Drip-Along Daffy, Rabbit Fire, and A Bear For Punishment are also among my favorites.

Man, I love those tiny book scenes. 

Some of my favorite cartoons take place in the nighttime. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, the final act of Katnip Kollege, Kitty Kornered, all those hit me with more experience since I don't usually go outside at nights. 

The human reactions are hilarious and definitely ahead of it's time. I also like them completely faceless. Since I tend to dislike how Jones's human designs looked back in the 50s to 60s.

This would be my type of cartoon to show to people whenever they think of my drawings. It blends comedic action, and humanity to the whole thing.

I have to mention John T Smith's perfect acting in this cartoon. I also love the mouse. He's desperately pleading for mercy.

The funny moments are also sensible and doesn't add a bunch of unnecessary observant chatting which is why I grew up watching shorts more than movies. 

It gives you more of a focus on what your actually seeing. Given time to sense what the characters might be doing next, taking a time to breathe, and exploring different routes. 

 

Yeah, don't ask. There is one concerning scene that last a few seconds of a mouse portrayed as an african villager, but I seen worse. Also within it's shear context, the fact that it's a mouse instead of a human makes it less offensive and just a little moment in particular.

But that being said, we get on to the most memorable part of the cartoon, the muscular dog sees all the meat in the butcher shop and for a such a healthy and stable animal, he seems to have an interest for indulging. Bizarre.

I love the cheaply animated jump cycle in this scene.

For me being an animation observer no one talks about the serious lighting effects with some of these dark and twisted cartoons. 

Surreal animation can be decently enjoyable but can be hard to relate. Porky In Wackyland was only fascinating because of how unique it was. I didn't really enjoy alot of the alienated energy because it felt too unsettling and nonexistent.

Another animated frame showcase, I love the lip-syncing when the cat says "This time, we didn't forget the gravy."

 

This ending punchline was unexpected because I suspected that the cat character was silent all this time and he was just a quiet housepet, but now thinking about it, he really stood up for himself.

The final 10 seconds, is the dog suffering to drink all that gravy. Man, that is such an unforgettable and dark way to end it off.

This cartoon was a big change for animation medium itself. You can make something so cruel, so amusing, and yet funny at the same time.

This cartoon masters not being afraid to make something this mean but appropriate for audiences, yet alot of people seem to like it. You don't have to be a bad person to admire this cartoon. That's why this is becoming one my favorite cartoons. I seriously didn't give enough credit to it.