wow this was better than i remembered it. i remembered it as being kind of underwhelming. i guess i didn't truly appreciate hand drawn animation and limited, free style in particular. although i did like 'Peanuts' and a lot of the junk on Saturday mornings back in the 70's. i guess i just thought this was cheap and for babies. i remember seeing it a lot though because local KTTV-11 used to show it every other weekend when i was a kid. i also think i kind of got sick of seeing it all the time.
the same thing happened with Filmation's "specially challenged" 'Journey Back To OZ'. i always remembered that being a pretty lame movie, but when i "made a journey" (haw!haw!), back to the cartoon, i discovered that it was not only competently made, but also a really good work of hand drawn animation and some of the best full length work outside of the Disney factory. that's actually pretty impressive considering Filmation usually lived up to their reputation as sub-par, Saturday morning junk.
yeah i enjoyed mama goose's wacked out trip. so sue me. and i don't give two hooters if a kid likes it or not. i think that's a dumb way to rate kid's entertainment. if that were the scale families would never watch anything of quality and would only sit around watching pukeola like Dora the Explorer. often kid's are the worst judge of what's good for them a lot of the time. it's not a lot to ask that a kid stretch their horizons once in a while. jeez.
i thought the animation here was very cute and clever and not only made good use of a bargain basement budget, but it made good use of the Rankin/Bass and Paul Coker Jr. style that so many baby boomers came to know and love through so many retro television shows like 'Frosty the Snowman'. i also thought the songs were the usual smashing good time that Rankin/Bass always provide and all the gags were hilarious.
curious note here for children. i found it interesting that the young lovers, the Prince and Princess, were total idiots and not technically the hero and heroine. i kept wondering why i didn't like them as a kid. the irritatingly stupid and clumsy prince in particular. and i didn't like them especially now. it was because it's really the little kids who are the hero and heroine, not the stupid prince and princess. i thought that was pretty cool. because young kids know that lovers are stupid and mushy and no self respecting kid wants to see that ick really. as a single adult male, who never married, and doesn't want to, i get a little tired of all the mushy stuff in children's entertainment sometimes. especially in the Disney toons.
whether or not you think this is for babies i don't care. i liked it. i liked it a lot. and i defend it on a artistic and on a cultural and intellectual level. so there. nyaaah.
i know that baby boomers every where, have seen trying times. so i hope one of you little gremlins can read this and take heart. it's not so bad. there's a lot of waste to sort through. we've created a real mess. take the bad with the good. some of the bad, like this cartoon, turned out to actually be, really very good. and when i reflect back on my past experience, i realize i always "got off" on watching it as a kid even though i scorned it. that's why i watched it again after all these years. we don't always know ourselves as well as we think we do. that's what i learned over time.
get off your snobby high horses and don't be a silly goose and give this wacky world a try. who knows? some of you just might have the knack for lightening up a little and having a sense of humour about all of your ups and downs in life.
the same thing happened with Filmation's "specially challenged" 'Journey Back To OZ'. i always remembered that being a pretty lame movie, but when i "made a journey" (haw!haw!), back to the cartoon, i discovered that it was not only competently made, but also a really good work of hand drawn animation and some of the best full length work outside of the Disney factory. that's actually pretty impressive considering Filmation usually lived up to their reputation as sub-par, Saturday morning junk.
yeah i enjoyed mama goose's wacked out trip. so sue me. and i don't give two hooters if a kid likes it or not. i think that's a dumb way to rate kid's entertainment. if that were the scale families would never watch anything of quality and would only sit around watching pukeola like Dora the Explorer. often kid's are the worst judge of what's good for them a lot of the time. it's not a lot to ask that a kid stretch their horizons once in a while. jeez.
i thought the animation here was very cute and clever and not only made good use of a bargain basement budget, but it made good use of the Rankin/Bass and Paul Coker Jr. style that so many baby boomers came to know and love through so many retro television shows like 'Frosty the Snowman'. i also thought the songs were the usual smashing good time that Rankin/Bass always provide and all the gags were hilarious.
curious note here for children. i found it interesting that the young lovers, the Prince and Princess, were total idiots and not technically the hero and heroine. i kept wondering why i didn't like them as a kid. the irritatingly stupid and clumsy prince in particular. and i didn't like them especially now. it was because it's really the little kids who are the hero and heroine, not the stupid prince and princess. i thought that was pretty cool. because young kids know that lovers are stupid and mushy and no self respecting kid wants to see that ick really. as a single adult male, who never married, and doesn't want to, i get a little tired of all the mushy stuff in children's entertainment sometimes. especially in the Disney toons.
whether or not you think this is for babies i don't care. i liked it. i liked it a lot. and i defend it on a artistic and on a cultural and intellectual level. so there. nyaaah.
i know that baby boomers every where, have seen trying times. so i hope one of you little gremlins can read this and take heart. it's not so bad. there's a lot of waste to sort through. we've created a real mess. take the bad with the good. some of the bad, like this cartoon, turned out to actually be, really very good. and when i reflect back on my past experience, i realize i always "got off" on watching it as a kid even though i scorned it. that's why i watched it again after all these years. we don't always know ourselves as well as we think we do. that's what i learned over time.
get off your snobby high horses and don't be a silly goose and give this wacky world a try. who knows? some of you just might have the knack for lightening up a little and having a sense of humour about all of your ups and downs in life.