Fudget's Budget

Fudget's Budget (1954)

** (out of 4)

Morality tale from UPA about spending over one's family budget. A husband works all day making all the money while the wife goes out shopping and blows the budget when she sees a hat that she likes. The two decide to cut back on things but when the husband gets a raise they both decide to have some fun buying stuff they don't need. I'm a little mixed on this animated short because while there were some good moments I just thought there were too few for the film to really work. A few of the things I liked included the rhyming dialogue, which was often quite funny and it certainly made the film feel at least different. Another thing I liked was the lesson that it was trying to teach about one spending too much money. What I disliked most was the actual look of the film. I know many people can't stand the visual style of UPA films but for the most part it doesn't bother me. Of course, the exception is here because I found the lines in the background just to be rather ugly and I really didn't think it mixed well with how the characters were drawn.

After 25 cartoons in the "Jolly Frolics" collection, one would expect UPA to run out of ideas, to settle into a style with the same old characters, and give up on its creativity for good.

This does not happen in "Fudget's Budget". It IS creative. It IS groundbreaking. The Cartoon Modern style that UPA created is present in this, but you're not going to find another UPA cartoon that looks the same. The people collapse into lines, spin around, and reform into people again. The money motif is pervasive: dollar signs are prominent design features of the Fudget house. Mrs. Fudget goes down two flights of stairs without a stairway ever appearing in the shot. The short has that UPA magic.

It does peter out by the end. Partway through, the audience has seen most of what the short has to offer. It has to build towards a conclusion, but they list off events in the story to the point of boredom.

It says a lot about the rest of the short, and especially the animation quality, that I can think so highly of the overall cartoon despite not liking how it develops towards an ending. The animation is top- notch. It's surprising even if you've watched the 25 previous Jolly Frolics cartoons. It blew me away. The facial expressions and hair animation of Mrs. Fudget when she defends her hairdressing is great. She has happy eyes that look like the caret key on a keyboard: ^

It's also great that Mrs. Fudget (Irene) is depicted as an equal to her husband George, rather than subordinate. So many UPA cartoons were written by frustrated husbands, for frustrated husbands. She "meets the bills" with George's paycheck, rather than "waste his money" or any other cliché that UPA could have said instead. The cause of the Fudget's financial woes is not Irene's intense spending; everyone in the family contributes to them spending beyond their means, and everyone in the family cuts back. "Fudget's Budget" takes a basic premise and expands it wonderfully.

"Dedicated to all those people who manage to live within a family budget". Set against a background of graph paper, we meet "George" and "Irene Fudget". He works and she keeps house - including paying all the bills and keeping their family on an even keel. Is it all so simple, though? "Irene" had one passion - and that is hats. "George" likes his golf, to walk off his paunch. Should they economise? If so - what to cut out? Where do they stop? Luckily, he gets a promotion and quickly their spending starts to match their new income - a new television, dancing, trips, a new car. Storm clouds are gathering though and what happens when things start to go wrong? The children grow; the house needs some attention and soon, well where's the "Fudget Budget" now? Loans? Sinking ships? Gambling? No more hats...? It's quite good fun, this - it demonstrates just how precarious even the most meticulous of planning can be when the unexpected happens and though the quick-fired rhyming narrative annoys a bit at times, it does make you think.

Clever animated short. The whole thing is done with a graph as a background (which fits). It's about a family with two kids that live comfortably within a budget. Then things change. The boy grows up and they constantly have to get new clothes for him. The wife also has a weakness from expensive hats. They find themselves with HUGE budget problems and no way out.

Despite the way I'm making it sound it's actually fun. It's done in such a light-hearted way that it's impossible to be depressed by it. There are countless clever visual jokes that make this a pleasure to watch. It was also nominated for an Oscar as Best Short. Adults will find this more fun than kids.

This short does nothing terribly dramatic. No ground-breaking animation, or special voice work. It will not cure the common cold or achieve great breakthroughs in technology or world peace. But it is a rather charming look at a somewhat eccentric couple and their attempts to budget. I consider it one of my favorite cartoons done by a very talented staff at an important studio. It did one thing supremely well and still does, however often I watch it: it made me laugh. That's a good deal to say for anything these days. Wonderful short, well worth tracking down. Most recommended.