The Wackyland Rubber Band

A funny little blog where I review, analyze, and list facts on a buncha dumb animal cartoons.

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Welcome to the Wackyland Rubber Band!

Want your stupid animal cartoons reviewed? First off, why? Second off, I'm your man for the job! I'll share facts, analyses, and other stuff, too. I cover a variety of different cartoons (Disney, MGM, the occasional Fleischer, etc) but I mostly just do Looney Tunes stuff. Anyway, that's about it from me.

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the collector’s covers of TV Guide’s “50 greatest cartoon characters of all time”

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THE BARBER OF SEVILLE (1944)

Director: James Culhane

Story: Ben Hardaway, Milt Schaffer

Animation: Verne Harding, Les Kine, Emery Hawkins, Pat Matthews, Paul J. Smith, Rudy Zamora

Release Date: April 22, 1944

Ah, Woody Woodpecker. One of my favorite, yet also one of the most underachieving cartoon characters of all time.

Despite his appealing design and his fun, if a bit aggravating personality, Woody was never able to achieve fame and praise similar to the likes of Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse (Unless you're in Brazil), and I find that to be a great shame, as I find Woody to be a great character. However, it seemed nobody truly knew HOW to use him after the 1940s were over, as he became nicer, unfunnier, and more simple of a character, despite a few fun cartoons here and there. (Mostly 1954's CONVICT CONCERTO). It seems like they've been trying to return to his classic roots in the modern day and age, but they aren't really doing it very well, as the movie stunk and the Flash show is unbearably mediocre. So what made Woody tick anyway? Why do I find him to be such a great character? Well, look no further than The Barber of Seville.

The cartoon begins with Woody, reading the window of Tony Fig-Ay-Roo.... Figaro's barber shop. As he looks at the different haircut options, he decides to get a "V FOR VICTORY" haircut, because what can he lose with a victory cut?

As he thinks about the haircut, we get some great expressions from him.

As he goes into the barber shop, he finds that Figaro is out to get his physical. "Back soon? That's what he thinks." This cartoon shows its age very clearly with military references such as these, but I find them somewhat endearing.

Oh well. Maybe Woody can cut his own hair! He cuts his own teeth!

As he begins combing his hair, he does a dainty pose as he remarks "Looks like Harmonica Lake!"

This is a neat lil nod to the famous actress Veronica Lake. (Yeesh, check out that... creature next to her!)

Suddenly, a Native-American man walks in, unaware that Woody will be his barber. Despite the controversial nature of this whole sequence, weirdly enough, the official Woody Woodpecker youtube channel has this entire cartoon up with NO censorship. Not even a disclaimer or anything. This whole sequence is somewhat unnecessary to the cartoon, so I won't go into full detail about it.

However, one gag I DO have to bring up is one where, after Woody places a bunch of hot towels on his head, the man's war bonnet shrinks into a shuttlecock.

He takes great offense to this, viewing this as Woody "giving him the bird" (A great double entendre) as he pulls out an axe, threatening to give Woody "scalp treatment".

Woody backtracks on this, pulling out a mallet as he states "No. I give YOU scalp treatment!". He then knocks him on the head with the mallet. Just a great combo of jokes all packed into one big gag.

After this, we find a burly Italian construction worker, who goes into the shop. This is where the cartoon gets good.

As he sits down, Woody asks him what he would like. He asks for the "whole works", a decision he will most definitely come to regret.

As Woody begins the haircut, he holds down the man's helmet, the razor hitting it as both the man and Woody shake around, the razor makin a jackhammer sound effect.

"Remove the hat!.... dope."

As Woody attempts to remove it, we get another fun visual gag as Woody blow torches the man's helmet off, using his own hair as a nob controlling the fire.

Now, while all of the gags that I've mentioned are GREAT, it's all nothing compared to what you'll be seeing next. After removing the helmet, Woody begins SINGING OPERA (specifically Largo al factotum) while cutting the man's hair. He begins by slapping the man with a bunch of shaving cream.

He randomly places shaving cream on the man's shoes as well. While Woody sings, the man looks at him with an incredible expression of pure shock and horror.

He then slaps the brush for the shaving cream into the man's mouth.

He begins polishing the man's shoes with the shaving cream, which is standard barber practice.

Do I really have to say anything about this next part? He pulls out the razor as he points it at the man, resulting in the most iconic still from this cartoon. "V'e la risorsa..."

He then extends the seat to go up higher, to the point where he slams the man into the ceiling. He sticks on there for a bit due to the shaving cream.

He then falls off as a bunch of tools fly across the screen, including.. dentures? Maybe this is just an old-timey barbershop thing, I wouldn't know.

The man tries hiding from Woody in the bib, leading to a really satisfying looking gag where everytime Woody swings the razor, the man changes position, as Woody randomly phases over to that position, with no in between frames whatsoever.

As Woody swings the blade again, the man disappears. Woody begins calling out for him by saying the famous "FEE-GA-ROOOOOO.... FEE-GA-ROOOOO...." part of the song.

As he calls to him, he randomly clones himself as he looks around. A really simple yet genius gag.

As he calls out, we see the man, attempting to walk away, dressed as a stereotypical child from that era, complete with a little umbrella. He spouts "Coming, mother!" If I remember correctly, this is a radio show reference, but I don't remember which one.

As he tries running away, Woody turns like the way a bloodlusted animal turns when they hear a twig snap, dashing towards him.

This is where the cartoon reaches its peak. He begins swinging the razor at him again, now with a fencing stance, as they move across the shop.

After a RIGID haircutting session, the man finally escapes Woody's grasp, running out the shop as Woody laughs hysterically, but not before the man gets his revenge. As Woody laughs, the mangrabs him and chucks him through the window as he slams into a pole.

Now THIS is Woody Woodpecker. There's a reason he's Stanley Kubrick's favorite cartoon character. (That's entirely true by the way... look it up) And it seems many people agree on this being a great Woody cartoon, as it's usually ranked as the BEST one and was ranked #43 in the best cartoons EVER. Another huge selling point to this cartoon is that it was the first to feature Woody's design as we know it today, besides the blue neck (which I honestly prefer). Basically, what I'm trying to say is, if there's ONE Woody cartoon you should watch... it's this one. And you're in luck, because this time, instead of putting some shoddy Dailymotion link, I can send you the entire cartoon from the official Youtube channel! You can view it here!

All of the gifs used in THIS review come from animationfan69.tumblr.com. Give em' a watch!

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THE OLD ARMY GAME (1943)

Director: Jack King

Story: Carl Barks, Jack Hannah

Animation: N/A

Release Date: November 5, 1943

TW: The mention of suicide.

Out of all of the cartoons in the "Donald Duck Goes to War" saga, The Old Army Game has ALWAYS been my favorite. It has such a wonderful mix of slapstick, visual gags, morbid humor, actual drama, and even some good audio gags. I'd even go as far as to argue that this is one of Donald's best outings! Sadly, due to how dark it is, it probably will never be re-released nowadays. While it may be stuck in the Disney Vault, it's also stuck in my brain, so let's see what makes it such a good Donald Duck.

Our story begins with Pete, depicted as the sergeant, inspecting the camp. He goes through the cabins, making sure all of the men are sleeping.

Suddenly, he hears an odd snoring sound coming from one of them. He goes to check it, only to figure out everyone inside of it is just a dummy, including our "hero", Private Duck, and the snoring is coming from a broken record. Why... he's gone AWOL! Oh, that Donald, such a devilish little bastard!

Why, would you speak of the duck!

In a clever visual gag, he sneaks back onto the base after fluffing up his tail and bringing his arms up in the air, making a silhouette of a rabbit. Clever little fella, ain't he?

However, Pete knows that Donald is coming back, so he props himself onto Donald's bed, tricking the tired duck into using his arm as a pillow, providing us with some great expressions from both of them.

Donald himself even states as he drifts off to sleep "Boy, we sure pulled one over on the sarge." Observant as ever, Donald!

However, Donald soon realizes that Pete is right there next to him, so he makes a run for it.

As Pete chases him, he gets an idea, sliding into one of three randomly placed boxes outside.

This is where the cartoon gets its name from as Donald begins spinning the boxes around, similar to the famous shell game. Pete keeps flipping the boxes, trying to find him.

As Donald continues to slip the boxes around, Pete gives up the search, ragequitting by kicking the middle box over the fence while doing a Curly-like wince, not knowing that Donald is IN it. The sharp fence cuts it in half.

Despite falling into the sand, covering his legs, Donald believes his legs have been CUT OFF by the fence. Just a classic little misunderstanding, right?

Donald gets Pete to believe this as well, with both of them now teary-eyed, as Donald is in clinical depression and Pete believes he caused the accident to occur.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Jeez, pretty dark, even for a 1940s Donald cartoon. And while that is true, it gets even MORE twisted. As Pete turns, still sobbing, Donald notices the gun in his pocket. He takes it as he points it against his temple, losing the will to live as he contemplates over whether or not he should do it. That's right. DONALD DUCK IS CONTEMPLATING WHETHER OR NOT HE SHOULD COMMIT SUICIDE. Just another fun Disney cartoon for kids, amirite?

This one frame in particular has always haunted me, with him staring at the screen with his eyes squinted and his teeth showing, as I remember seeing it on a Youtube Thumbnail when I was REALLY little and it absolutely scared the piss outta me.

Instead of trying to stop him, Pete simply nods as he sobs, telling Donald to "do it behind the bushes". As Donald nods, he crawls off, the gun still pointed at his head. It is that this moment Pete realizes that Donald STILL has his legs, and has been bluffing this entire time. This leads to a hilarious visual of Donald crawling off in absolute distraught, complete with dramatic music accompanying it.

As Pete plucks one of Donald's tailfeathers, Donald realizes that his legs are still there! Hooray! Now all of his troubles are over!

Aren't you glad that he's safe, Sergeant Pete? Clearly not, as we get a great visual gag of his eyes turning into literal daggers as they clash against each other. Looks like Donald would be a dead duck either way.

As the two chase off into the night, they come across a sign, saying "National Speed Limit: 35 Miles". Well, they HAVE to follow it! And so the cartoon ends, with Donald and Pete running in slow motion off into the moon. (This also provides a neat little gag where as the music flares up, the drums sound off exactly whenever Pete's feet hit the ground.) The old army game indeed.

All in all, The Old Army Game is an INCREDIBLE cartoon, perfectly mixing comedy with a bit of psychological horror. The voice talents provided by Clarence Nash and Billy Bletcher greatly compliment the amazing expressions. Not to mention the beautiful, picturesque backgrounds, which provide a nice little contrast compared to all the chaos that they're near. While I doubt it'll ever happen, a full on Donald in the Army DVD/Blu-ray collection similar to the Private Snafu one would be incredible, of course with a disclaimer for the depictions of the Japanese present in Commando Duck. You can view this cartoon here!

Oh, and an extra note: All of the gifs used in this review are provided by adventurelandia.tumblr.com. Go check them out!

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FORWARD MARCH HARE (1952)

Director: Chuck Jones

Story: Michael Maltese

Animation: Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam

Release Date: February 14, 1953

I've always found this cartoon to be extremely interesting, as it doesn't really follow the formula of your average Bugs Bunny. Instead of showing him outsmarting a foe, it's just him causing trouble unintentionally. It feels a lot more like something you'd find in a Mickey Mouse or Goofy cartoon. Not that I find that to be a bad thing, though. This cartoon is full of great, subtle gags that you'd have to rewatch to notice.

The cartoon begins with Bugs, doing his... morning workouts? This seems like somewhat of a one-off thing and it isn't really ever brought back up, but I find the sheer pointlessness of it funny. Anyway, while he's doing them, a letter accidentally slips into his hole for Bertram Bonny, or B. Bonny. Bugs notices this and mistakes it Bonny for him, believing that he has been drafted. I always wondered who Bertram Bonny was, and how he got stuck with such a stupid name.

Anyway, it cuts to him, in the induction center. This leads to a bunch of great little gags, like the man looking at him, turning to the screen and letting out a small snicker, and turning back.

Another great little gag comes with the doctor examining Bugs's skeleton, only to come to the conclusion that he doesn't get paid enough for this job.

My favorite out of all of these induction gags comes from him, doing the eye exam and passing it so well that he reads off the disclaimer at the bottom. I know that this gag is kind of reused from Hot Cross Bunny, but it's funny, so who cares?

We soon find Bugs, reporting for basic training. This sets up a lot of gags, such as him knocking over a bunch of the other privates like bowling pins.

Throughout the cartoon, there's this great running visual gag where every time Bugs messes up, the next time we see the drill sergeant, he has been demoted a rank.

Another great visual gag comes from Bugs, showering in the colonel's helmet. "Cleanliness is next to godliness", he states.

All of this culminates in one of, if not my favorite ammunition shell LT gags (trust me, there's a lot), where Bugs tries hammering a nail for a calendar WITH a shell. There's something charming about seeing Bugs with such a childlike sense of stupidity.

As the ammunition shell bursts out of the quarters, we get a neat little visual gag of the colonel, with his helmet having a huge chunk taken out of it due to the shell shooting it.

At this point, it finally becomes clear to the sergeant (who has been reduced to the rank of PRIVATE) that Bugs is NOT Bertram. Despite not being able to serve in the army due to being a, well, rabbit, Bugs, ever the patriot, still wants to do his part for his country. Luckily, there IS a way. This culminates in one of the most hilariously morbid endings for a Bugs Bunny cartoon ever. Bugs is shown hitting ammunition shells with a hammer on an assembly line, labelling the ones that don't explode as "DUDS". And just think, in 30 years he can retire!

All in all, despite its unusual setup, Forward March Hare is a wonderfully written cartoon, chockfull of great slapstick and visual gags. You can view it here!

And so, this marks my first full-on "cartoon review". It can only go down from here.