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Tall in the grass
Just because 'Tijuana Toads' has gotten a low rating and negative review doesn't mean that all of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' cartoons were bad. Far from it, their best cartoons are actually great (especially the best of the Pink Panther theatrical series, likewise with the best of The Inspector and Ant and the Aardvark). The best Roland and Rattfink and Hoot Kloot cartoons, though they were more mixed as series, were good too. So there was no negative bias against them.
'Tijuana Toads' is most notable for being the first of the Tijuana Toads cartoons and first impressions are not very promising. Personally did not care on the whole for the series (though actually it's not the worst of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' theatrical series), and while there are actually worse cartoons in it 'Tijuana Toads' is a good example as to why. It has its moments and is not a completely terrible cartoon, but a lot doesn't work and the overall execution in my view is mediocre at best.
Am going to start with the halfway decent things. The best thing about it is the music, with another winner of a main theme tune from Doug Goodwin that really rouses the spirits. It is infectiously jazzy and it is sad that the cartoon's pacing doesn't match the energy in the music. The best character by far is the John Wayne-influenced grasshopper, the only character to have any kind of appealing personality, the only rootable one and the only one to not be a stereotype.
Voice acting on the whole was not good at all, but John Byner is a lot of fun as the grasshopper with voice work that is as good as his terrific voice work for the Ant and the Aardvark. There is one amusing gag, the red hot chilli-peppers one.
Really didn't care for the voice work for either Don Diamond and Tom Holland, who are both too broad for their characters (especially Diamond) and their stereotypical accents grate (with Holland coming off worse) and don't sound authentic. Neither of the two titular characters are either interesting, amusing or easy to like, Pancho is particularly annoying and is pretty useless actually in the cartoon. There is very little that is remotely amusing, the best gag is the red hot chilli-peppers one and even that was lifted out of somewhere else. A lot of them are re-used, yet what made them work so well before come over as tired here.
Story is pretty much non-existent, basically a stringing along of recycled gags, and is quite slow. It is also very repetitive, with about a minute of the cartoon's duration involving El Toro being repeatedly punched. The dialogue is at best mundane and full of cringe-worthy corn, plus it sounds stilted. The animation is not good either, with all the backgrounds being sparse and simplistic, consisting of three flat colours that make one feel sick and two unattractively drawn lead characters. Only the grasshopper looks appealing.
Concluding, very mediocre. 4/10.
'Tijuana Toads' is most notable for being the first of the Tijuana Toads cartoons and first impressions are not very promising. Personally did not care on the whole for the series (though actually it's not the worst of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' theatrical series), and while there are actually worse cartoons in it 'Tijuana Toads' is a good example as to why. It has its moments and is not a completely terrible cartoon, but a lot doesn't work and the overall execution in my view is mediocre at best.
Am going to start with the halfway decent things. The best thing about it is the music, with another winner of a main theme tune from Doug Goodwin that really rouses the spirits. It is infectiously jazzy and it is sad that the cartoon's pacing doesn't match the energy in the music. The best character by far is the John Wayne-influenced grasshopper, the only character to have any kind of appealing personality, the only rootable one and the only one to not be a stereotype.
Voice acting on the whole was not good at all, but John Byner is a lot of fun as the grasshopper with voice work that is as good as his terrific voice work for the Ant and the Aardvark. There is one amusing gag, the red hot chilli-peppers one.
Really didn't care for the voice work for either Don Diamond and Tom Holland, who are both too broad for their characters (especially Diamond) and their stereotypical accents grate (with Holland coming off worse) and don't sound authentic. Neither of the two titular characters are either interesting, amusing or easy to like, Pancho is particularly annoying and is pretty useless actually in the cartoon. There is very little that is remotely amusing, the best gag is the red hot chilli-peppers one and even that was lifted out of somewhere else. A lot of them are re-used, yet what made them work so well before come over as tired here.
Story is pretty much non-existent, basically a stringing along of recycled gags, and is quite slow. It is also very repetitive, with about a minute of the cartoon's duration involving El Toro being repeatedly punched. The dialogue is at best mundane and full of cringe-worthy corn, plus it sounds stilted. The animation is not good either, with all the backgrounds being sparse and simplistic, consisting of three flat colours that make one feel sick and two unattractively drawn lead characters. Only the grasshopper looks appealing.
Concluding, very mediocre. 4/10.
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 2, 2021
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