Really like and even love quite a lot of Famous Studios' output, their later work was a bit hit and miss but their earlier work in the 40s were well made, scored and had a good deal of amusement and charm. Liked a vast majority of their Popeye cartoons, while preferring Fleischer Studios', early Casper and Herman and Katnip, enough Little Miss Audrey while Little Lulu and their Screen Songs left me mixed and Baby Huey didn't really do it for me.
Some of my favourites of theirs came from the Noveltoons series, an uneven series but an interesting one with a lot of them representing what was good about the studio when they were in their prime. 'Ups and Downs Derby' is not one of the series' best and Famous Studios did better overall too (as well as worse). That sounds like it is being said that it's a bad cartoon, but in my view it's not. Actually quite liked it, while understanding why there will be some that won't and it is dependent on whether they are familiar with the Noveltoons cartoons and what their thoughts are on them.
'Ups and Downs Derby' isn't perfect. The story is thin on the ground and doesn't do an awful lot new structurally with unoriginal territory. Maybe it could have gotten going quicker.
The treatment of Lightning is also rather brutal and cruel, which is not going to bode well with those that hate animal cruelty.
However, despite how that sounds, 'Ups and Downs Derby' works in many areas. Like with a vast majority of the studio's cartoons (not all mind, the quality did become less good when the studio declined and became less consistent from the late 50s onwards) the animation is great. It has vibrancy and atmosphere, while the drawing is neat and expressive and the attention to detail in the animation is particularly note-worthy. Winston Sharples' music score is expectedly outstanding, the one component to be consistently good throughout the studio's run regardless of hoe everything else fared. The energy and lushness is quite a feast for the ears.
Once it gets going, the energy is quite infectious and the cartoon has enough charm. There are plenty of amusing moments and the setting is made great affectionate use of. Am going to be another person who did find the ending surprising and clever. Lightning is an engaging lead character and while the other characters are not quite as interesting they provide some nice conflict. The voice acting is fine.
Concluding, decent if not exceptional. 7/10.
Some of my favourites of theirs came from the Noveltoons series, an uneven series but an interesting one with a lot of them representing what was good about the studio when they were in their prime. 'Ups and Downs Derby' is not one of the series' best and Famous Studios did better overall too (as well as worse). That sounds like it is being said that it's a bad cartoon, but in my view it's not. Actually quite liked it, while understanding why there will be some that won't and it is dependent on whether they are familiar with the Noveltoons cartoons and what their thoughts are on them.
'Ups and Downs Derby' isn't perfect. The story is thin on the ground and doesn't do an awful lot new structurally with unoriginal territory. Maybe it could have gotten going quicker.
The treatment of Lightning is also rather brutal and cruel, which is not going to bode well with those that hate animal cruelty.
However, despite how that sounds, 'Ups and Downs Derby' works in many areas. Like with a vast majority of the studio's cartoons (not all mind, the quality did become less good when the studio declined and became less consistent from the late 50s onwards) the animation is great. It has vibrancy and atmosphere, while the drawing is neat and expressive and the attention to detail in the animation is particularly note-worthy. Winston Sharples' music score is expectedly outstanding, the one component to be consistently good throughout the studio's run regardless of hoe everything else fared. The energy and lushness is quite a feast for the ears.
Once it gets going, the energy is quite infectious and the cartoon has enough charm. There are plenty of amusing moments and the setting is made great affectionate use of. Am going to be another person who did find the ending surprising and clever. Lightning is an engaging lead character and while the other characters are not quite as interesting they provide some nice conflict. The voice acting is fine.
Concluding, decent if not exceptional. 7/10.
