A vast majority of Walter Lantz's work ranges between well worth seeing and must watches, even if some theatrical series are better than others (not unexpected as that is true of pretty much every animation director). He was responsible for some misses, but on the whole he hit more than he missed. American history has always fascinated me and it's not often when one sees it lampooned in animation. Lantz was a good choice for director, he was no stranger to lampooning various subjects and in general well.
He fares well here in 'Hysterical High Spots in American History'. It is not hysterical or a high spot in Lantz's career, but it is well crafted, very interesting and enjoyable and a good way of making American history accessible to younger audiences. It did make me want to read up more on the less familiar historical figures and events, most familiar and some not so familiar (which actually has always been fun in cartoons with this kind of premise), lampooned.
'n my view 'Hysterical High Spots in American History' does feel a little rushed and over-stuffed, with so much featured (too much) and too little time to breathe. Not all the gags properly landed, especially the slightly too cutesy Manhattan Island sale and tired Gettysburg Address lampoon, and some of the dialogue is a little too corny like the Robert Fulton one.
Didn't care for a few of the character designs, especially for Robert Fulton and Christopher Columbus.
So much is good though. The music is lush and characterful throughout and a vast majority of the animation is excellent. Loved the extremely rich attention to detail in the backgrounds, especially in the Thomas Edison part, and Edison and George Washington are extremely well drawn. The story is non existent but this was a case of not caring about that when there was so much energy.
While not all the humour works and nothing is hilarious (it also depends on how familiar you are with what is covered, the cartoon was very mixed in this regard), many of the gags are amusing and humorous. The Washington, Edison and San Juan Capistrano mission ones stand out. When it comes to the history, it was educational too and always interesting, good on the cartoon for including content not usually seen let alone lampooned in animation, not everyday you see the Great Depression, the First Thanksgiving and Spanish Wars depicted in animation.
Summing up, a lot of fun and interesting but doesn't ever quite live up to the title. 7/10.
