The cartoon travelogue shows us the splendors of Hawaii. Next, we're invited to follow the bouncing ball and sing along to "Blue Hawaii."The cartoon travelogue shows us the splendors of Hawaii. Next, we're invited to follow the bouncing ball and sing along to "Blue Hawaii."The cartoon travelogue shows us the splendors of Hawaii. Next, we're invited to follow the bouncing ball and sing along to "Blue Hawaii."
- Directors
- Writer
- Stars
Photos
Charles Irving
- Narrator
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Sid Raymond
- Jimmy Durante
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Seymour Kneitel
- Al Eugster(uncredited)
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
[title sequence]
Chorus: [singing] Start the day with a song / And sing the whole day through; / Even while you're busy working, / Do just like the birdies do. / Though the day may be long, / You never will go wrong. / Low key, high key, any old key, / Just start the day with a song.
- SoundtracksBlue Hawaii
Written by Leo Robin & Ralph Rainger
Featured review
Hawaiian splendour
When talking about "splendour", that is not describing the overall quality of 'Blue Hawaii'. It is instead referring to Hawaii itself, which is a popular holiday destination for very good reason. Famous Studios proved more than once that they had good and more cartoons in them, although their output is inconsistent. Something that is obvious in their Screen Songs series, where the best cartoons are very good but the worst also very weak.
'Blue Hawaii' is neither one of the very good cartoons (one of which in particular was a major surprise) or one of the very weak ones. It is definitely worth a look and was better than expected and remembered with a number of good things, but it is anything but splendid and too much of being slightly above mixed bag level to be so. As far as the Screen Songs cartoons go, it's in the middling slightly above average category so somewhere in between.
There are a number of things as said that are done well. First and foremost, the animation is lovely. The setting is vivid, the colours are bright and colourful and the drawing has some nice expression of a wide variety throughout, but particularly later on. Even better is the music, which makes the cartoon and makes it come alive. It is full of energy and attractive orchestration, while the title song "Blue Hawaii" is a great memorable one beautifully arranged and performed.
Furthermore, 'Blue Hawaii' does have some very amusingly wacky gags in particularly the middle third and a few fun puns. The first two thirds are lively in pace, despite being very flimsy and formulaic narratively, and the travelogue aspect of the cartoon was clearly done by people that loved Hawaii judging from its very affectionate and colourful and never stereotypical depiction. The characters are nice enough.
Like too many Screen Songs cartoons, the singalong section that fills the last third is vastly inferior, very bland and feels like a different cartoon. The momentum isn't there and the material is neither funny or interesting, as well as too derivative and of the time. Too many of the puns, which 'Blue Hawaii' is littered with, are groan-worthy.
Moreover, the story is a non-event. The travelogue portion is basically a stringing along of sight gags and puns and the singalong one revolves around the song, which is admittedly a classic and the best song from the film it comes from ('Waikiki Wedding' with Bing Crosby), and not much else.
In conclusion, above average thanks to a very well done first two thirds but let down by the bland final one. 6/10.
'Blue Hawaii' is neither one of the very good cartoons (one of which in particular was a major surprise) or one of the very weak ones. It is definitely worth a look and was better than expected and remembered with a number of good things, but it is anything but splendid and too much of being slightly above mixed bag level to be so. As far as the Screen Songs cartoons go, it's in the middling slightly above average category so somewhere in between.
There are a number of things as said that are done well. First and foremost, the animation is lovely. The setting is vivid, the colours are bright and colourful and the drawing has some nice expression of a wide variety throughout, but particularly later on. Even better is the music, which makes the cartoon and makes it come alive. It is full of energy and attractive orchestration, while the title song "Blue Hawaii" is a great memorable one beautifully arranged and performed.
Furthermore, 'Blue Hawaii' does have some very amusingly wacky gags in particularly the middle third and a few fun puns. The first two thirds are lively in pace, despite being very flimsy and formulaic narratively, and the travelogue aspect of the cartoon was clearly done by people that loved Hawaii judging from its very affectionate and colourful and never stereotypical depiction. The characters are nice enough.
Like too many Screen Songs cartoons, the singalong section that fills the last third is vastly inferior, very bland and feels like a different cartoon. The momentum isn't there and the material is neither funny or interesting, as well as too derivative and of the time. Too many of the puns, which 'Blue Hawaii' is littered with, are groan-worthy.
Moreover, the story is a non-event. The travelogue portion is basically a stringing along of sight gags and puns and the singalong one revolves around the song, which is admittedly a classic and the best song from the film it comes from ('Waikiki Wedding' with Bing Crosby), and not much else.
In conclusion, above average thanks to a very well done first two thirds but let down by the bland final one. 6/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Nov 18, 2021
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime7 minutes
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