While a mostly hit and miss series of cartoons, with generally the early cartoons faring better than the later ones, the Herman and Katnip are at least watchable. While not among the very best of the series(Herman the Catoonist is my personal favourite), Ship a Hooey is enjoyable enough and one of their better cartoons from the period where Famous Studios were going into decline.
Coming off particularly strongly here were most of the animation and especially the music. The character designs do lack the smoothness of the cartoons, which can be put down to lower budgets and the print. However the background art is meticulously detailed and looks quite beautiful, and the colours are very charming. Winston Sharples' music is even more mellow than his earlier Herman and Katnip scores but certainly no less rousing or characterful. The orchestration is lush without being schmaltzy, the rhythms are energetic and character-driven and the scoring generally synchronises so well with the action. The theme tune is unforgettably catchy too.
The gags in some Herman and Katnip cartoons could sometimes be on the cruel side(a notable example being the final gag of Mice Meeting You), but not to the point of being overly sadistic like the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons were. While violent, the gags here are not that cruel or disturbing and are pretty amusing and timed quite well, the most inspired being the ones with Katnip's peg leg(the exchanging of the peg leg for the stick of dynamite was very memorable). Ship a Hooey is not really hilarious, some timing is slow especially at the start and anybody who has seen any of the previous Herman and Katnip cartoons will not be surprised by what happens here as it is relatively standard stuff for a cartoon, but it is certainly not as repetitive as the series can be prone to be(some of their cartoons have the exact same story and dialogue in different settings but not so much here).
Herman is resourceful, cunning and amusing, his outsmarting of Katnip is not much new but it doesn't irritate or bore. It was also a relief to actually not see him take so much pride or pleasure in his treatment of Katnip, this happened in the previous cartoon of Mice and Menace and for me it was a turn-off. Katnip is a great adversary, that's funny and menacing, and Ship a Hooey actually has to be one of the stronger examples in a Herman and Katnip cartoon of Herman having a good reason to outwit Katnip, rather than just provoke him for sport like he did in Of Mice and Menace. It is easy to feel sorry for Katnip when he's provoked, but when he is a 'villain' from a start like here and Northwest Mousie it makes the conflict between him and Herman far more convincing. The mice wisely don't feature much and are cute and poignant. The voice work is very good.
Overall, nothing mind-blowing and is never going to be a favourite of mine but still an enjoyable enough cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Coming off particularly strongly here were most of the animation and especially the music. The character designs do lack the smoothness of the cartoons, which can be put down to lower budgets and the print. However the background art is meticulously detailed and looks quite beautiful, and the colours are very charming. Winston Sharples' music is even more mellow than his earlier Herman and Katnip scores but certainly no less rousing or characterful. The orchestration is lush without being schmaltzy, the rhythms are energetic and character-driven and the scoring generally synchronises so well with the action. The theme tune is unforgettably catchy too.
The gags in some Herman and Katnip cartoons could sometimes be on the cruel side(a notable example being the final gag of Mice Meeting You), but not to the point of being overly sadistic like the Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry cartoons were. While violent, the gags here are not that cruel or disturbing and are pretty amusing and timed quite well, the most inspired being the ones with Katnip's peg leg(the exchanging of the peg leg for the stick of dynamite was very memorable). Ship a Hooey is not really hilarious, some timing is slow especially at the start and anybody who has seen any of the previous Herman and Katnip cartoons will not be surprised by what happens here as it is relatively standard stuff for a cartoon, but it is certainly not as repetitive as the series can be prone to be(some of their cartoons have the exact same story and dialogue in different settings but not so much here).
Herman is resourceful, cunning and amusing, his outsmarting of Katnip is not much new but it doesn't irritate or bore. It was also a relief to actually not see him take so much pride or pleasure in his treatment of Katnip, this happened in the previous cartoon of Mice and Menace and for me it was a turn-off. Katnip is a great adversary, that's funny and menacing, and Ship a Hooey actually has to be one of the stronger examples in a Herman and Katnip cartoon of Herman having a good reason to outwit Katnip, rather than just provoke him for sport like he did in Of Mice and Menace. It is easy to feel sorry for Katnip when he's provoked, but when he is a 'villain' from a start like here and Northwest Mousie it makes the conflict between him and Herman far more convincing. The mice wisely don't feature much and are cute and poignant. The voice work is very good.
Overall, nothing mind-blowing and is never going to be a favourite of mine but still an enjoyable enough cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox
