User Reviews

George Gordon is a potentially interesting cartoon director who seems to have never created a really great cartoon. The second person hired by Fred Quimby for his cartoon unit at MGM -- Quimby was hated by all his directors because he left them alone except when it came time to grab the best cartoon statuette at the Academy Awards ceremony -- a situation I would think ideal, by the way -- he labored for a couple of years anonymously on the Captain & the Kids cartoons, disappeared for a bit, showed up again in 1943, and worked, on and off, for decades to come. His last credits seem to have been directing a lot of Smurf episodes in the early 1980s.

This cartoon concerns a tree surgeon who happens to be a donkey, fighting a termite over a tree. It is quite competently done and it is, effectively, a silent movie: the only sounds are the Scott Brady score and the occasional hee-haw of the donkey. The artwork is interesting, particularly the way the tree is drawn as almost a human being, and the gags are deftly handled; I am particularly taken by the way the final pay-off gag is not shown but implied.

Yet, although they are highly competent clowns, there is no sense that either the donkey or the termite are more than individuals who come into existence as the credits roll and who will cease to exist when it's over.

Well, it's fun while the film is rolling, which is more than can be said for a lot of cartoons. Enjoy it for that.

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. 'The Tree Surgeon' popped up as a random recommendation here when reviewing one of the Rudolf Ising cartoons and was on a roll with watching lesser known cartoons from the 30s, 40s and 50s (and have been for the past four or five years or so). It didn't look or sound great from having seen stills and plot summaries but as an animation fan it was still seen anyway.

'The Tree Surgeon' is nothing special and actually has very little to it. It has a few good things that are done very well indeed, enough to raise it above mediocre level, but the too many flaws in the more crucial areas made it very difficult, nigh on impossible really, to rate it above average. 'The Tree Surgeon' isn't terrible and is slightly watchable for lesser known animation completest sake. As said, there is little that stands out and so much has been done before and much better.

By all means there are good things. The animation is vibrantly colourful and fluid, with lovingly crafted and detail background art. Nothing looks rushed or static, loved the ambitious animation on the tree. Even better, and this is probably the best aspect of 'The Tree Surgeon', is the music, it is lushly orchestrated and very characterful in an energetic way that is not matched enough in the story and gags. Both are worth two points each of my overall rating.

A few of the gags are quite amusing and the action is well choreographed and animated.

However, as said, 'The Tree Surgeon' is not really anything special. There could have been more gags and they could have been a lot more inventive and less tired, they are also never hilarious and are generally forgettable. That tiredness is obvious also in the story, which is slight to the point of non existence and the conflict is very predictable due to it being another variation of conflicts that had been seen many times in animation already.

Pace wise, the cartoon is pretty dull due to some of the material being over-stretched to make up for the content being too little in quantity. Neither the donkey or termite are particularly appealing or interesting characters, the former having little personality and the latter on the obnoxious side.

Overall, not terrible but very average and forgettable. 5/10.

Tree Surgeon Donkey is called to treat a giant sequoia. I don't know if this concept has much potential. First, the tree surgeon should be a monkey or some animals that are connected to trees. A good one could be a sloth. A squirrel could be the one calling for the tree surgeon and he would be frustrated with the sloth's slow movements. In the end, this is an odd concept. At least, this is a different concept. I don't know if it ever returns. I don't think it's terrible but I don't see this being popular.