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.
'One Droopy Knight' is Michael Lah's third solo-directed Droopy cartoon, and while it is not as good as his first one 'Grin and Share It' (one of his better efforts) it is much better than the disappointing 'Blackboard Jumble'. Ranking Lah's Droopy cartoons, it's somewhere in the middle perhaps. Also don't agree with the Oscar nomination with it not being in the same league as even the lesser Tex Avery Droopy cartoons (which managed to still be very good) and being one of the weaker nominees.
That sounds as if 'One Droopy Knight' is terrible. It isn't, far from it. It just isn't up to top Droopy standards that's all. It does lack Avery's unique visual style, creativity and wild wackiness, and while nothing is done terribly it's a case of feeling a bit bland at times.
When it comes to the humour, 'One Droopy Knight' is very amusing, love Droopy and Butch's knight names, and everything is well timed, present and correct. It's just that not much is hilarious or particularly creative. Droopy is humorous and charismatic as usual but he has been better used and written before. Again, the animation is not awful but the drop in quality is significant from the animation in Avery's output (know it is unfair comparing to Avery all the time, but in this case it's very difficult not to when he created Droopy and was responsible for a vast majority of his filmography), the backgrounds are unimaginative and plain and while the colours are very nice and there is good attention to detail there is a lack of refinement and the creativity of Avery's trademark visuals are missed.
However, despite how all this sounds, 'One Droopy Knight' is amusing and well timed. Droopy is always worth watching and so is Butch, who is the funnier and more interesting character here. The conflict and how it all transpires is not hard to figure out but the chemistry between the two is so strong that it's forgivable.
Bill Thompson's voice work is marvellous, one cannot imagine anybody else voicing Droopy, and Lah really doesn't do too bad a job with the cartoon but considering the brilliance of Avery's output it's not quite as inspired. The best thing is the music score. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.
Altogether, not bad at all but didn't wow me over. 7/10 Bethany Cox
