Hunky and Spunky

I have seen several of the Hunky and Spunky cartoons. They are quite good in fact the best of all the Flischer cartoons I have on disk.

The burros voices are hilarious and charming. I watched them with my sister and she also named them as her favorite among the Flischer cartoons we have on disk. I would like to have more of them but I'm afraid Max Flischer made only a few. There are a lot of cute cartoon animals in Flischers work but Hunky and Spunky are somehow unique. I have no idea who wrote the stories but they so tend to grasp the attention. You can follow the caricatures antics through the entire story and not loose interest. A lot of cartoons of that era are full of tedious antics that come at you way to fast. Hunky and Spunky have a lot of crazy antics but some how it seems to flow at a pace that continues to entertain from start to finish. I will defiantly be keeping my eyes open for more Hunky and Spunky.

This was the first of three animated shorts featuring this parent-child burro team of "Hunky and kid "Spunky." I hope the next two are better than this one, because cartoon stunk!

There was very little, if anything funny, in here, just a "cute" and then almost-horrifying story as a gruff-looking miner steals the little burro who cries out desperately for "mommy" for about a minute or two. The mother, of course, comes to the rescue.

The noises the donkeys made was annoying, even their laughter. It was abrasive to one's ears.

Overall: a terrible cartoon. There's no other way to put it.

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

There are however far better cartoons of his and the studio in general than 'Hunky and Spunky', and the whole Hunky and Spunky series overall. It looks good and is cute enough with one good character, but it feels rather bland and is easily forgettable after a couple of days if even that. Far from a bad cartoon, let alone a terrible one. Just that there is not much that is great, excepting two elements.

'Hunky and Spunky's' best asset is the animation. Simply put it is great, very colourful and atmosphere with smooth character designs, meticulous if not innovative attention to detail and gorgeously detailed backgrounds. The other outstanding asset is Sammy Timberg's music score, both lively and lush and adds a lot to the cartoon's mood.

Of the characters, the best and only really interesting character is the prospector, both fun and sinister and 'Hunky and Spunky' does pick up quite a bit when he appears. A couple of mildly amusing parts in the early stages, the cartoon does have cute and charming moments and the waking up sequence is a memorable highlight. Jack Mercer does a nice job.

Conversely, Hunky and Spunky are sweet if rather too overly cute and not particularly interesting. The story is very slight, only with the prospector is there anything resembling a story and even then it's very predictable and formulaic, and tends to be far too sugary sweet.

Pacing is also rather too slow in the first half. The second half is far more interesting and is entertaining and suspenseful, but it also feels like a different cartoon. There are amusing moments, but it never gets more than that and generally it's fairly mild.

In summary, watchable and inoffensive but bland and forgettable. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This short is visually impressive in spots (a hallmark of the studio), but the characters aren't that interesting and, for all that this was nominated for an Academy Award, it points up the problems with the Color Classics series in general: they tried to be something Fliescher Studios was not, namely Disney Studios. Overall, the Color Classics range from watchable to quite good (the more Fliescher-like ones are the best ones), cute and cuddly was not the strength of the Fliescher Studio. It would be akin to Tex Avery suddenly going saccharine-it just doesn't come across terribly well. The mean prospector is the strength of the cartoon, particularly his predictable but enjoyable defeat. Worth watching, but only average.

A short animation about a donkey mother and her son. Lessons, development of new skills, courageous saving , humor, old flavors of familiar atmosphere. A film easy to criticize. For many aspects. But lovely. Like a letter discovered after many, many decades. Because its message is precise, naive and cute. And it is enough for see it as a trip in the sensitivity and art of animation of a real past time.