Pound Puppies is from long before I was born, but I was lucky enough to see reruns of it on Boomerang as a kid. I'd watch it before school every morning back then, and I was devastated when it was taken off the air. Now all the episodes are on YouTube, so I can revisit the show! I like the 2010 Pound Puppies series too, but it's not as good as this one.
Cooler, Howler, Bright Eyes, Whopper, Nose Marie, and their owner Holly all live and work together at Holly's Puppy Pound. They do the best they can to find loving masters for puppies and kittens who have no homes. As goofy as the Pound Puppies are, they constantly face serious problems, and they always show kindness and tenderness to those who are outcasts like them, which proves that they're capable of giving outcasts the love and acceptance they and Holly wish they had. Heartwarming, right? This also proves that they aren't willing to force their problems onto others or make other animals' (or humans') lives miserable. Unfortunately, there are lots of cats and dogs who run wild and don't have a home or anybody to love them, feed them, and play with them, and the Pound Puppies do everything they can to fix problems like that.
The 3 main villains, Katrina and Brattina Stoneheart and their cat named Catgut, try to kill the Pound Puppies and make their lives miserable all the time, but thankfully they always lose in the end and receive their comeuppance.
The show has good morals like the value of friendship, sometimes giving is better than receiving, chores don't have to be boring, you can be anything, just because something feels too good to be true doesn't always mean it is, and more. This is one of the cartoons I've seen that most effectively shows the importance of friendship and compassion alongside the Winnie the Pooh franchise. Why? It's because of the kindness and tenderness they always show their fellow outcasts that I mentioned earlier.
Cooler has always been one of my favorite characters and the highlight of the show, mainly because of his laugh. It's so funny and not like any other laugh I've heard before! I heard that his laugh is based on Eddie Murphy's laugh. He's a laidback guy and a surrogate big brother to his fellow Pound Puppies. Sure, he can be goofy and a jokester at times, but he can also be serious when the Pound Puppies are in a tough situation, and he always manages to stay calm.
Various references to other cartoons are present. There's an episode where Cooler says Elmer Fudd's catchphrase, "Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits." Coincidentally, I used to imitate both Cooler and Elmer Fudd's laughs all the time. There's also a Mount Rushmore parody in another episode. It's just like the real deal, except it has the heads of other Hanna Barbera dogs on it (Scooby Doo, Muttley, Huckleberry Hound, and Doggie Daddy) instead of presidents. How awesome is that!
I highly recommend Pound Puppies to both the young and old. If you love puppies and kittens like me, you'll probably love this show!
