Feelings on The Dogfather cartoons were a very mixed bag as a child. They had their moments but DePatie-Freleng Enterprises did far better and far more memorable theatrical series. Decided to watch all the cartoons to see out of curiosity how well they stood up by young adult standards, whether they would be better on rewatch, the same or worse. Some of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' theatrical series were good, some were mediocre at best or in one case bad.
The premise was very unexciting, have seen it and variations of it many times, and the execution is anything but exciting as well. What was already a very predictable and tired series of cartoons, pretty much half of them remakes of vastly superior Looney Tunes cartoons, feels like it has run its course and we are not even at the end of the series. A remake of 'Kit for Cat' (which is actually a great cartoon), both loose yet blatant and also directed by Friz Freleng, 'Rock-a-bye Maybe' is really mediocre for very similar reasons to other Dogfather cartoons.
'Rock-a-bye Maybe' is not a complete miss. Did like the voice work from Bob Holt, which had a lot of variety and spirit. The music fits well enough and the theme song is catchy.
Did find the ending quite amusing and there are a few nice lines from Dogfather. Pug is by far the most interesting character and works hard to inject energy.
A lot doesn't work. Pug's material is quite limited and repetitive and Dogfather has nothing really of note other than issuing threats when sounds are made. The squirrels don't have much personality, are annoying and are actually underused. The animation as usual for the Dogfather series is sparse, flat and limited looking and actually even more so, as said the studio did have purposefully abstract animation but took it to extremes in the 70s to the point it looked shoestring budget.
Furthermore, the story is nothing to write home about. Very thin and derivative with very little energy, as well as very predictable and lacking in variety. The outcome in no way is a surprise, with it being an outcome seen many times in animation. Which is true of the gags too, which are too few and too much like stale retreads of pre-existing past-prime Looney Tunes gags, only the ending stands out in terms of memorability. The cartoony violence is too tame, while the at times childish comedy by adult standards and complicated mobster terminology that will go over younger viewers' heads doesn't ever gel and made me question the target audience. There is no energy here and everything feels tired.
Very mediocre all in all. 4/10.
The premise was very unexciting, have seen it and variations of it many times, and the execution is anything but exciting as well. What was already a very predictable and tired series of cartoons, pretty much half of them remakes of vastly superior Looney Tunes cartoons, feels like it has run its course and we are not even at the end of the series. A remake of 'Kit for Cat' (which is actually a great cartoon), both loose yet blatant and also directed by Friz Freleng, 'Rock-a-bye Maybe' is really mediocre for very similar reasons to other Dogfather cartoons.
'Rock-a-bye Maybe' is not a complete miss. Did like the voice work from Bob Holt, which had a lot of variety and spirit. The music fits well enough and the theme song is catchy.
Did find the ending quite amusing and there are a few nice lines from Dogfather. Pug is by far the most interesting character and works hard to inject energy.
A lot doesn't work. Pug's material is quite limited and repetitive and Dogfather has nothing really of note other than issuing threats when sounds are made. The squirrels don't have much personality, are annoying and are actually underused. The animation as usual for the Dogfather series is sparse, flat and limited looking and actually even more so, as said the studio did have purposefully abstract animation but took it to extremes in the 70s to the point it looked shoestring budget.
Furthermore, the story is nothing to write home about. Very thin and derivative with very little energy, as well as very predictable and lacking in variety. The outcome in no way is a surprise, with it being an outcome seen many times in animation. Which is true of the gags too, which are too few and too much like stale retreads of pre-existing past-prime Looney Tunes gags, only the ending stands out in terms of memorability. The cartoony violence is too tame, while the at times childish comedy by adult standards and complicated mobster terminology that will go over younger viewers' heads doesn't ever gel and made me question the target audience. There is no energy here and everything feels tired.
Very mediocre all in all. 4/10.