User Reviews

A kind-hearted leprechaun allows himself to be caught by a child so he can be ransomed for his pot of gold to pay off the mortgage in this good Famous Studios Noveltoon.

Although the stage Irish accents get on my nerves pretty quickly -- even if they are appropriate -- this is still a good cartoon. There are some nicely rendered gags, a little bit of spooky magic at the end and, best of all, there is some excellent animation work on the leprechaun's faces early on -- check out the expression on the leprechaun assaying the quality of the gold. In addition, director Bill Tytla has done some very nice compositions with a very dark background. All in all, a solid effort.

Leprechauns Gold was one of those cartoons that I saw as a child but never took note of the title. Thank goodness for good old Youtube, after coming across it by chance while going through a Fleischer and Famous Studios marathon it was just as good as remembered. While it's not a classic, it's a good cartoon with some nice things that deserves to be seen more.

There's not an awful lot wrong here, though Leprechauns Gold is quite long for a cartoon for the time(around the 9 minute mark) and would have been just as effective two minutes shorter. The story is still very engaging, as well as amusing and warm-hearted with a touch of spookiness(without being overly-dark), and very true to Irish tradition if a touch thin for the running time and it's not particularly new. But these can be seen as nit-picks and quite minor as well.

Leprechauns Gold is beautifully animated, love the luscious smoothness of the backgrounds and the mix of vibrant and dark-shaded colours, plus the characters are expressively drawn, standouts being the leprechaun when he assays the gold and with the villain. The music is wonderful, with sprightly rhythms, lush scoring(especially the opening sequence) that are distinctively Irish. The dialogue while a touch predictable is humorous and simple without being overly-so, it isn't exceptional but doesn't hurt the cartoon in any way at all. The gags are a lot of fun, the best being the fireflies becoming the full moon and the gold turning into bees. The characters carry the cartoon very well, especially the very likable Paddy and the quite sinister villain, and the voice acting is appropriate and dynamic(didn't have much of a problem personally with the accents).

Overall, very nice and underseen, worth catching. 8/10 Bethany Cox