When pirates kidnap his girlfriend, only Cubby the Bear can save her.When pirates kidnap his girlfriend, only Cubby the Bear can save her.When pirates kidnap his girlfriend, only Cubby the Bear can save her.
- Director
Photos
Storyline
Featured review
Cubby's pirate trouble
Van Bueren Studios' Cubby the Bear series comprised of just 17 cartoons made between 1933-1934. As much as it pains me to say it, speaking as a big animation fan, it is not hard to see why the character and the series weren't so popular and didn't last long.
Is 'Bubbles and Troubles' among Cubby's worst? Not quite. As truly bizarre and random it is, there is something slightly entertaining about it despite that it is not really a very good cartoon at all. The best thing about it, and this is true of a lot of Van Bueren's output, is the music score. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and full of lively energy that is sorely lacking elsewhere, doing so well with enhancing the action.
The pirates are also loony fun, it's not exactly a dull cartoon (pacing-wise 'Bubbles and Troubles' is actually one of the livelier Cubby cartoons) and there is more story than usual (though generally this aspect is not executed well enough in order for that to be a proper compliment).
However, the animation is really not good even for a cartoon not made on a high budget, and it is true for the Cubby the Bear series and Van Bueren in general on the whole. It's static in movement, simplistic in background detail and sloppy in drawing, with the character expressions being pretty expressionless. Another major problem is Cubby himself, on top of being poorly animated he is one of the blandest, most personality-deprived and most motivation-less characters ever to exist. Honey is not much better, think the love interests for similar early male characters from Disney and Looney Tunes except much blander and with significantly less charm or personality and you have Honey.
'Bubbles and Troubles' gags are not really enough, there is not much funny and while Van Bueren cartoons tend to be absurdist this felt overdone here. While it has been said that there is more story than the usual Cubby, and even Van Bueren, cartoon and it's livelier than most in the series, 'Bubbles and Troubles' execution of its story also makes it one of the series' weirdest and looniest (and going overkill in both), the randomness of the events confuse it too. Everything is resolved far too easily and predictably at the end.
On the whole, mediocre but not terrible. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Is 'Bubbles and Troubles' among Cubby's worst? Not quite. As truly bizarre and random it is, there is something slightly entertaining about it despite that it is not really a very good cartoon at all. The best thing about it, and this is true of a lot of Van Bueren's output, is the music score. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and full of lively energy that is sorely lacking elsewhere, doing so well with enhancing the action.
The pirates are also loony fun, it's not exactly a dull cartoon (pacing-wise 'Bubbles and Troubles' is actually one of the livelier Cubby cartoons) and there is more story than usual (though generally this aspect is not executed well enough in order for that to be a proper compliment).
However, the animation is really not good even for a cartoon not made on a high budget, and it is true for the Cubby the Bear series and Van Bueren in general on the whole. It's static in movement, simplistic in background detail and sloppy in drawing, with the character expressions being pretty expressionless. Another major problem is Cubby himself, on top of being poorly animated he is one of the blandest, most personality-deprived and most motivation-less characters ever to exist. Honey is not much better, think the love interests for similar early male characters from Disney and Looney Tunes except much blander and with significantly less charm or personality and you have Honey.
'Bubbles and Troubles' gags are not really enough, there is not much funny and while Van Bueren cartoons tend to be absurdist this felt overdone here. While it has been said that there is more story than the usual Cubby, and even Van Bueren, cartoon and it's livelier than most in the series, 'Bubbles and Troubles' execution of its story also makes it one of the series' weirdest and looniest (and going overkill in both), the randomness of the events confuse it too. Everything is resolved far too easily and predictably at the end.
On the whole, mediocre but not terrible. 4/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•00
- TheLittleSongbird
- Dec 1, 2017
Details
- Runtime6 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content