User Reviews

The best entries in the "Captain and the Kids" series are the ones that mine humor from the Dirks strip's basic concept - the kids tormenting the captain. Director Freleng did not like the idea of adapting the Katzenjammers to animation, but proceeded by order of producer Fred Quimby. "Poultry Pirates" is one of four cartoons in the series in which the kids do not appear at all. In fact, the only regular in sight is the Captain, and he's stuck with a recycled Porky Pig script in which he has to chase the neighbor's chickens out of his garden. Pretty routine business, although it does get amusing toward the climax where Der Cap goes to the mat with a giant, muscle-bound rooster. If there's any moral to this, I guess it would be "Don't feed your poultry steroids".

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.

'Poultry Pirates' is not one of Friz Freleng's best cartoons by any stretch, in an uneven "still evolving" period of his long career, and he was yet to be in his full prime and not yet found his style properly. For a relatively early effort, 'Poultry Pirates' is average but not great or a Freleng classic, he would do much better later. It is never what one would call hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story is flimsy.

It is very predictable and thin story-wise and generally could have had more oomph, which would have been solved if the cartoon was a little shorter. 'Poultry Pirates' does feel routine and there aren't enough gags that are funny, a big problem for a gag heavy cartoon where the structure is basically an excuse to string them along. A few amusing moments but it's hardly laugh-a-minute and nothing is hilarious.

However, the poultry and the captain are fun characters and the chemistry between the characters elevates 'Poultry Pirates'.

The cartoon has amusing moments and there is some liveliness, though generally it was one that could have done with more oomph.

Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The music is lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The voice acting from Billy Bletcher is terrific and full of character.

In summation, average and unexceptional but far from a waste. 5/10 Bethany Cox

"The Katzenjammer Kids" (also called "The Captain and the Kids"*) was a very successful comic strip back in the day....so successful that MGM licensed the strip and made a few cartoon shorts. However, they only made 15 strips and after a year abandoned the series because it wasn't successful. I've seen many of them and they are enjoyable but lack the insane violence and nastiness that made the strip famous. Often the shorts didn't even include the bratty kids who made the strip so enjoyable in the first place.

This particular short, "Poultry Pirates", was directed by Friz Freleng who would soon make a name for himself directing cartoons for Looney Tunes.

Like many cartoons from 1938, this one was made in black & white. Despite this, the animation itself is very good...as good as shorts coming from Looney Tunes (Warner Brothers) or the Fleischer Brothers (Paramount).

The Captain is trying to grow crops and must contend with a variety of problems...especially his chickens who are bent on eating whatever he grows. However, after he catches a young chick, he spanks the creature...leading to lots of problems from the chick's insanely large papa.

While the animation is very good, the story itself lacked the insane violence and nasty kids that you would expect. As a result, the Captain is a rather generic character with little to offer over other cartoon characters. Not a bad cartoon but not one that seems like the strip in any way.

*The reason the strip had two names was because the original artist who created the strip left the cartoon syndicate and the syndicate kept the name and had another artist do the strips for them, while the original artist continued, renaming his strip "The Captain and the Kids".

In 1938, MGM adapted the popular comic strip The Captain and the Kids to theatrical shorts. It did not catch on and is one of the many cartoon franchises lost over time. The Captain stand guards over his garden against marauding fowl from the neighboring home. It's a fun little short of its time. While the Captain is fine, the animals are pretty fun. The people involved are some of the important figures in cartoon production and their professionalism is obvious. It is always interesting to rediscover some of these lesser known cartoon characters.

By 1937, Friz Freleng had spent a few years directing Merrie Melodies at Warner Bros. That was when MGM offered him a more lucrative deal to direct the "Captain and the Kids" series, based on a comic strip. Apparently, the series proved to not be very popular, so MGM canceled it after about two years (after which Friz returned to WB).

So, "Poultry Pirates" is the first cartoon in this series that I've seen. Pretty lame. Basically a litany of gags in which a gaggle of hungry chickens - and one Rambo-like rooster - humiliate the Captain to get to his garden, I can see why nothing much became of the series. I believe that I speak for most people when I say that Friz's WB work will be that for which he's remembered.

The Captain tangles with the chickens -- and a duck -- who keep breaking into his truck garden in the third of the CAPTAIN AND THE KIDS cartoons, directed by Friz Freleng for Fred Quimby's unit at MGM.

It's a nice, lively cartoon, despite the absence of the Katzenjammer Kids. Cartoonist Rudolf Dirks had begun the strip in 1897 for Hearst's organization. Eventually he was lured away and tried to restart the strip. This wound up in court, with the decision that both strips could continue, but Dirks' version would have to be renamed "The Captain and the Kids.

As for Freleng, he had been lured away from Leon Schlesinger's cartoon factory by a higher salary and bigger budgets. After a couple of years, he was happy to return to Schlesinger, who began each screening with the order "Roll the c**p!", and where he made "You Ought To Be In Pictures" in expiation.

I thought this was pretty funny because of some very clever animation. When the Captain becomes obsessed with preventing his poultry from getting into his garden, war is declared. Through his efforts, he brings about more grief than he had before when he was just bullying. He lost a few sprigs but came out OK. But he can't let it go and that's where the humor comes in. The best scene, in my opinion, is hs fight with the giant rooster.