Fish Hooked (1960) Poster

(1960)

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6/10
Chilly Willy and Smedley at the aquarium
TheLittleSongbird2 August 2017
Chilly Willy's best cartoons were perfect examples of how a potentially one-joke character and concept could end up actually being a perfect mix of the cute and the funny with a lot of colour and good comic timing to go with it.

After the previous three very good to great Chilly Willy cartoons, 'Fish Hooked' was a disappointment somewhat. It is always enjoyable seeing Chilly and Smedley together, they work so well together, it is good to see Chilly having a different purpose from the norm and 'Fish Hooked' is better than most cartoons directed by Paul J. Smith, the worst of which not being being good at all. Chilly and Smedley have just done much better, that's all.

'Fish Hooked' is a rather predictable cartoon, the outcomes of every gag and the ending can be seen from ages off, and the action between Smedley and the porpoise was amusing at first but got on the repetitive side. On top of being predictable, the story also lacks variation which gives it a repetitiveness.

Outside of Chilly, Smedley and a few of the colourful fish characters, not all the characters are particularly memorable. The animation has been better in previous Chilly Willy cartoons, the drawings never were the most refined but other than some nice bright colours a lot of the drawing looks rushed and ugly.

However, the music is full of lively bounce and character, with luscious orchestration. It not only adds to the action and visuals but enhances them too.

Really enjoyed the aquarium setting, which was colourful and the humorous narration did a good job entertaining and teaching, one does learn a lot about the different types of fish.

Some of the gags are hurt by the lack of variety but most are amusing and are timed well. The chemistry between Chilly and Smedley sparkles, and it is always remarkable at what Chilly has up his sleeve and how he does it. Underneath all that irresistible cuteness he is one clever, funny and at times fairly brutal penguin.

Chilly is adorable and is also a lot of fun, with his actions speaking far louder than words. He may be a nuisance to his opponents but he wins the viewer over with his cuteness and timing. Daws Butler (in his distinctive Huckleberry Hound voice) delivers some solid voice acting as Smedley, the slightly funnier and more interesting character.

In summary, decent but not great. 6/10 Bethany Cox
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4/10
Fish Hooked was a pretty amusing Chilly Willy "cartune"
tavm22 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Just watched this Walter Lantz Chilly Willy "cartune" on YouTube as linked from the Saturday Morning Blog. Chilly's nemesis as usual is Smedley who's a worker at the aquarium where the penguin is catching fish. Smedley tells him he's not allowed to do that but of course Chilly just does what he wants to which leads to another chase between him, Smedley, and a porpoise Smedley feeds...Okay, this Paul J. Smith-directed short is actually a little better than his usual poor efforts. For one thing, there's some amusing action every time Smedley gets hit on the head constantly by the porpoise. Also, the narrator at the beginning provides some humorous intros when we see the various fishes being literally what he says they are (i.e. catfish, dogfish, hammerhead). Also, I always liked that Southern drawl Daws Butler used not only on Smedley but also on a character he did in a Droopy cartoon and, of course, Huckleberry Hound. Oh, and there's one more surprise gag at the end I also liked. So on that note, Fish Hooked is worth a look.
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8/10
I enjoyed it a great deal
Horst_In_Translation6 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Fish Hooked" is a cartoon from 1960, so this one is already way over half a century old. It runs for a bit over six minutes and is a Walter Lantz Production. The names Lantz, Smith, Brightman and Butler (the ones who made this) may not really be known to many today anymore, but they should be as they were truly prolific back in the day and worked on more than a few films, also full feature works, that are still really well-known today. Especially Daws Butler deserves a mention here because he voice-acted not only characters in 350 films, but in this one here he did virtually everybody. A touch of Blanc. Anyway, as you can read from the title of my review, I really liked this one a lot. I think the plays on words about fish early on was really great fun and a simple idea executed very well. Then there is a switch up outside the water and we see the narrator, a humanized dog, and this is an interesting idea, nothing you see too often, also in cartoons. That dog is basically everybody's fool during the feeding session and eventually also the officer's fool when his canine instincts get through. You can see from the looks here that it is not really anymore from the Golden Age of Animation or from the very end of it, but this does not hurt the quality st all. I think it was genuinely funny and witty and the little penguin adds a nice element of cuteness. All in all, a must-see for lovers of old cartoons. It's my favorite from its year and I highly recommend the watch.
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