Plane Dippy

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best cartoons ever made from anybody. 'Plane Dippy' is a good cartoon, but not one of the best from either Avery or Porky Pig, both of them capable of very good to masterpiece. Then again, even when Avery was not at his best he was far better than most at their worst. The problem isn't that there is too much of a sense that he hadn't found his style, actually the first half is classic Avery.

'Plane Dippy' is instead fairly uneven. It is agreed that the first half is absolutely brilliant, being imaginatively drawn, immaculately timed and very funny. The momentum however for me did dip in the latter parts of 'Plane Dippy' where the timing was a mix of rushed and momentum-less and the material is generally not as inspired.

While most of the voice acting is fine, Billy Bletcher especially, count me in as somebody who has found that Joe Dougherty's Porky voice has never done it for me. It's not just because Mel Blanc's more famous interpretation is more appealing to me but Dougherty doesn't sound anywhere near as natural or endearing, have always found that he overdid the stutter and that's true here too.

On the other hand, the animation is characteristically great, especially in the first half, crisp, detailed and fluid throughout. The music is not Carl Stalling or Scott Bradley and does lack variety at times, but it is still lush and characterful and adds a good deal to the action if not quite enhancing it.

As far as the gags go, the standouts are the hay and the straw hats gag and the scene with the cloud. It can be expected that Porky is a likable character and he is and also amusing, cute and interesting, though to me he works better in support against a stronger in personality character, where he plays it straight, than a lead. Just personal preference.

In short, good if uneven cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox