Classic Cartoon Review

Throughout entertainment history, there have been reviewers of movies. But, cartoons were ignored - until recently. Here is a site devoted to reviewing the classic age of cartoons:

classiccartoons.blogspot.com/

It was basically my generation that took cartoons more seriously than prior generations did - and seriously consider reviewing them (although FDR was a big fan of Mickey Mouse cartoons). I think this guy calls himself "Duck Dodgers" (from the 21st Century, as a well known Daffy Duck parady that was in a cartoon or two). Despite the passage of 60 years, many of these cartoons are still considered funny - showing the magic of Mel Blanc.

Despite the fact that Micky Mouse launched the Disney empire, the Loony Toons are now considered the giants of the era. Maybe this is because CBS had two hours of 1950's and 1960's era cartoon re-runs every Saturday morning. But this guy reviews others from this era, going all the way back to the Wilson Administration with a review of the Krazy Kat cartoons (I didn't know cartoons were around this long!). However, most of the cartoons reviewed are from the 1930's and 1940's.

For some reason, he likes to review Ren & Stimpy, which I don't know why they are here (considering they started in the 1990's). And no Mickey Mouse, either - although they were not as entertaining as WB cartoons. He also reviews some obscure ones, ones that are forgotten.

This brings one back to the menage et twa of an earlier era. The cartoons probably provide better commentary on society than the movies of the era themselves do - after all, cartoons were shown at the beginning of movies, and during this time, people did not go to the movies for social commentary - they wanted pure entertainment. So a funny cartoon could be put at the beginning of a movie, people would laugh at their own society, and then watch the movie - probably forgetting the cartoon. Yet they were still doing this into my childhood - I remember going into a movie in 1982 and watching a new Woody Woodpecker cartoon (one I had not seen in before in syndication, the art was fresh, so I assume it is new, but I am not going to look it up).

Even in our era, cartoons provide commentary that cannot be presented elsewhere - South Park, Beavis and Butthead, and the Simpsons are a few. This is because it is possible to be extremely outlandish in a cartoon on a cheap budget - after all, all you need to do is draw something - or you can do things that are not technologically possible yet. So you can provide commentary that is not possible to do in a movie.

He provides a lot of clips, so you must be patient. And then he provides good commentary. He also sticks to the subject.

This is an excellent site, one of the best I have reviewed to date. So I grade it appropriately.

Grade: A