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"I hate you, Instant Hole"
1969's 'The Ant and the Aardvark' was a very solid start for one of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' best and deservedly most popular theatrical series. Maybe it was thin and predictable and the finesse was not always there, but what was there was an interesting animation style, a great music score, humour that was often hilarious both physically and verbally, a well-established tone already, two already interesting characters and John Byner's terrific voice acting.
All of this continues in the next cartoon 'Hasty But Tasty', which is in a way even better and shows that the series has not lost its promising touch. It is very true to what was established very well in 'The Ant and the Aardvark' and builds upon it, which is exactly what at least the next four or five cartoons after the first should do for any cartoon series. The problems with the previous cartoons aren't solved as such here, but 'Hasty But Tasty's' good strengths are the same to before as well.
'Hasty But Tasty's' story again is very slight and with not many surprises, most of the series follows a formula and one that is reminiscent of that for the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons which in itself was not a particularly innovative formula either. This is not a particularly big exception to this, though foucusing on a further obstacle to pit against was different, and the ending is pretty obvious.
While the animation mostly is fine, there is the odd bit of flatness and lack of finesse which was not uncommon with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animation style in general. A lesser gripe, a very minor gripe, is there could have been more of the ant in an Aardvark-centric cartoon though the conflict between the Aardvark and the Instant Hole was done really well.
Like before, the animation is mostly very well done, with the beautifully stylised and richly coloured backgrounds and the inventive character reactions standing out. A big part of 'Hasty But Tasty's', and the Ant and the Aardvark series' appeal, is the music. Love music that's light-hearted and puts people in a good mood, and also music that is catchy and appealingly orchestrated, from the clever opening titles sequence to the last note/final gag the music here succeeds on all counts (not to mention that how it is performed is brilliant).
There may be reservations with the formulaic plot, but none with the gags and dialogue. Plenty of both, physically and verbally, and they range from very funny to hilarious. Most of it consists from a running gag regarding the "instant hole", put to great (very funny and clever) a big danger with running gags is being repetitive and getting old too early. Found this type of gag with the hole one of the best and funniest ones for any cartoon seen recently. 'Hasty But Tasty' also contains one of the Aardvark's best lines ever and one of the funniest lines of the whole series, the one in the review summary, on my first watch of the cartoon that line made me spit out the mouthful of my drink back into the glass.
Found that all the characters were handled very well, a slight imbalance but the interesting and well-established and contrasted personalities remain as do the perfect timing of the wild gags (the anvil gag is also well done) and the irreverent witticisms, sarcasm and how the audience are made to feel they're in the cartoon. Not to mention the sparkling character interaction. The Aardvark is a little funnier and more interesting but as said he features more here so that was inevitable, but the ant is still amusing and the hole is a scene stealer. There have been great examples of voice actors that excelled in voicing more than one character and giving them individual and different voices and personalities to the others. Mel Blanc was the king at this. Pat Harrington Jr did it wonderfully in The Inspector series. And John Byner is equally fantastic voicing both the ant and the aardvark here, with vocal influences of Jackie Mason and Dean Martin.
Summing up, very nicely done. 8/10.
All of this continues in the next cartoon 'Hasty But Tasty', which is in a way even better and shows that the series has not lost its promising touch. It is very true to what was established very well in 'The Ant and the Aardvark' and builds upon it, which is exactly what at least the next four or five cartoons after the first should do for any cartoon series. The problems with the previous cartoons aren't solved as such here, but 'Hasty But Tasty's' good strengths are the same to before as well.
'Hasty But Tasty's' story again is very slight and with not many surprises, most of the series follows a formula and one that is reminiscent of that for the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons which in itself was not a particularly innovative formula either. This is not a particularly big exception to this, though foucusing on a further obstacle to pit against was different, and the ending is pretty obvious.
While the animation mostly is fine, there is the odd bit of flatness and lack of finesse which was not uncommon with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' animation style in general. A lesser gripe, a very minor gripe, is there could have been more of the ant in an Aardvark-centric cartoon though the conflict between the Aardvark and the Instant Hole was done really well.
Like before, the animation is mostly very well done, with the beautifully stylised and richly coloured backgrounds and the inventive character reactions standing out. A big part of 'Hasty But Tasty's', and the Ant and the Aardvark series' appeal, is the music. Love music that's light-hearted and puts people in a good mood, and also music that is catchy and appealingly orchestrated, from the clever opening titles sequence to the last note/final gag the music here succeeds on all counts (not to mention that how it is performed is brilliant).
There may be reservations with the formulaic plot, but none with the gags and dialogue. Plenty of both, physically and verbally, and they range from very funny to hilarious. Most of it consists from a running gag regarding the "instant hole", put to great (very funny and clever) a big danger with running gags is being repetitive and getting old too early. Found this type of gag with the hole one of the best and funniest ones for any cartoon seen recently. 'Hasty But Tasty' also contains one of the Aardvark's best lines ever and one of the funniest lines of the whole series, the one in the review summary, on my first watch of the cartoon that line made me spit out the mouthful of my drink back into the glass.
Found that all the characters were handled very well, a slight imbalance but the interesting and well-established and contrasted personalities remain as do the perfect timing of the wild gags (the anvil gag is also well done) and the irreverent witticisms, sarcasm and how the audience are made to feel they're in the cartoon. Not to mention the sparkling character interaction. The Aardvark is a little funnier and more interesting but as said he features more here so that was inevitable, but the ant is still amusing and the hole is a scene stealer. There have been great examples of voice actors that excelled in voicing more than one character and giving them individual and different voices and personalities to the others. Mel Blanc was the king at this. Pat Harrington Jr did it wonderfully in The Inspector series. And John Byner is equally fantastic voicing both the ant and the aardvark here, with vocal influences of Jackie Mason and Dean Martin.
Summing up, very nicely done. 8/10.
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 2, 2023
- Permalink
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