The Helpful Geni

'The Helpful Geni' (1951)

Opening thoughts: The Little Roquefort series was first introduced in the previous year 1950. None of the cartoons were my definition of great, but many were pleasant inoffensive watches as long as you know what to expect. Little Roquefort is not the most compelling of lead characters and in the series (like a fair share of cat and mouse cartoon series) it is often a case of the supporting characters being a lot more interesting in personality. Which was true of recurring character Percy the Cat.

'The Helpful Geni' is another one of the pleasant and inoffensive Little Roquefort cartoons, but also another one of the not particularly great ones as well, rather average actually. There are a lot of good things that help make it worth watching, but there is not an awful lot that is exceptional and it falls short in a few crucial areas. As far as the 1951 Terrytoons cartoons go, 'The Helpful Geni' is somewhere in the middle instead of being one of the best or worst.

Good things: Like a lot of Terrytoons' output, there are two things that are done very well indeed and raise 'The Helpful Geni' significantly. One is the animation, the studio's most improved component. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is on display, the colours are a mix of vibrant and atmospheric and fluidity of drawing and movement has improved such a lot for the studio. Even better is the music (the most consistently good aspect in all the Terrytoons cartoons up to this point, even in the very bad ones early on), it is beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is terrific fun to listen to and the lively energy is present throughout, doing so well with adding to the action.

Did think that there were a few amusing moments here and there. Percy is a fun and suitably ruthless adversary and did like the cat and mouse chemistry between him and Little Roquefort, which amused.

Bad things: Little Roquefort himself however, while pleasant enough and not annoying, is quite limited as a character and is not as vibrant a personality, rather one dimensional and bland. Not much different at all from other theatrical series with mice as the titular character.

Also felt that there could have been a higher gag count, as the cartoon is low on that and what there is is not original or hilarious, and the story is very predictable, due to following very closely a very familiar formula, and quite flimsy, barely existent most of the time. And occasionally on the too cute side.

Closing thoughts: Overall, watchable but very average.

5/10.

What is it about bulldogs that aroused the ire of cartoonists? I have never met a bulldog who was less than amiable, but they have long served as the bully in cartoons, including "Butch" in the Tom & Jerry cartoons and a couple in Termite Terrace cartoons -- usually wearing sweater and a derby in the latter.

In any case, this Terrytoon about a cat who finds Aladdin's lamp and uses its Hugh-Herbert-voiced genie to bring the bulldog to heel is a pretty good one. It has three well-directed comedy sequences, including one that looks like it was lifted from one of Friz Freleng's farce chase sequences. None are particularly original, but given Terry's target audience of young, uncritical children, it is more than good enough.