User Reviews

Well, this is different, and usually I like that but I can't give this animated classic short more than "fair" marks.

The first two-and-a-half minutes of this cartoon is live action showing a little kid feeding ducks, then following one of the ducks who strayed to a nearby a pond. At that point, an animated frog appears, starts singing to the kid and then relays a story to him.

The story is far more dramatic than it is humorous, about the frog reaching from underneath the water, tickling the stomach of duck swimming by, and accidentally causing the duck to almost drown. The frog then has to turn into Johnny Weissmuller and swim frantically to save the duck's life. Then he's a hero to everyone in that duck's family. It's actually pretty suspenseful and probably scary a very little kid.

The film ends back with real-life footage with the frog saying, "If you don't believe me, ask him!" We a see big duck next to the kid, who then laughs.

Wow, talk about dated. I might have made this sound better than it is, because it's not very good.

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

In 1934, the studio made three cartoons mixing animation and live action, besides 'Along Came a Duck' there was also 'Grandfather's Clock' and 'A Little Bird Told Me'. The series was named "Burt Gillett's Toddle Tales" and while none of the three cartoons are terrible (far from it, Van Beuren certainly did far worse), it is also not hard to see why it was short lived and more were not made.

Under review here is the second of the three cartoons 'Along Came a Duck'. It is a one-time watch cartoon and nothing offends. There is also not much special or note-worthy here and is somewhat mediocre.

The best asset is the music, which was outstanding. It is beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, full of energy, great fun to listen to and it not only adds a huge deal to what is going on it also enhances it.

While the animation was not amazing, for black and white Van Beuren it could have been far worse. The character designs are interesting and the underwater setting is a setting that one does immerse themselves into easily and used imaginatively, if not as much as Clockland in 'Grandfather's Clock'.

Synchronisation and sound is neat, there is some charm here, some of the pace is lively and the voice work/singing for the frog is good.

However, the story is paper thin and doesn't really go anywhere, basically just a series of scenes. What little there is of story adopts a more dramatic approach towards the end and while it's suspenseful tonally it jars with the rest of the cartoon. The pace is uneven, some of it is zesty and then other parts drag.

Not making the live action sequence so long would have helped things. The live action sequence, despite being the shortest live action sequence of the three cartoons, is too too sugary sweet for my tastes and is fairly dull, and the boy veers on the too cutesy. It's also the worst looking live action beginning of the three cartoons, very primitive looking.

The dialogue is pretty corny, while humour is sorely lacking with far too few gags and next to no laughs (the little that there are are so forgettable it is easy to mistake the cartoon from being humourless). Of the characters, only the frog is memorable, the sound effects for the duck are the only thing that sticks in my mind for that character.

Altogether, fairly mediocre but not unwatchable. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Duck meets frog. Frog bugs duck. Duck gets in trouble. Frog tries to save duck. This is a cartoon that begins with a rather cute little boy observing nature, feeding the ducks, looking in a pond where the frogs are. The problem is that the cartoon is just plain dull. The story doesn't bring in anything new. The animation is quite ordinary. I believe that even small children would be bored.