Cans Without Labels

Many animated projects that have been made by Kickstarter have turned out hit or miss, but none have ever been more infamous than Cans Without Labels. Created by Ren & Stimpy John Kricfalusi, this prolonged project was announced in 2012 and was set for a release the following year. After numerous delays, angry disputes, and Kricfalusi getting into a lot of trouble (which I won't get into), the project never saw the light of day until this year. However, not only did it not satisfy anyone who donated to the fundraiser, but it could very well be the worst thing John K. has made by far.

Now the basic premise of the cartoon is that George Liquor has a bunch of unlabeled cans that he feeds to his nephews Ernie and Slab. Upon realizing that a face is inside one of the cans, the two youngins have to get rid of it quick. While very simple in concept, a lot of cartoons are in general, so it all depends on the execution to succeed. Unfortunately, this is where the cartoon fails, as a lot of the gags are heavily drawn out and the scenes go on for way too long. In addition, for a cartoon about trying to avoid eating a face, there isn't even enough gross out material for those who find the appeal in it. In addition, Kricfalusi is known for including public domain music in his cartoons, but the sound mixing is all over the place. The musical timing feels off, some tracks play at unnecessary points (you should not have a freakout track play right before a character gets shocked), and there's way too much noise for the viewers to gravitate towards what's happening on screen. Talk about throwing everything in the kitchen sink.

But of course, we need to talk about the animation quality, and my goodness has Kricfalusi fallen from grace in recent years. I know he's all about exaggerating the movements and facial expressions in his work, but his perfectionism has gone to the point of utter repulsion and annoyance. The actual character motion runs at a chaotic pace, making it difficult to gravitate towards anyone on screen. Not to mention, they move so much that your senses may have a hard time picking up on anything going on in the cartoon. There's barely any weight to the characters, as if they're just floating around who they move rather than feeling natural in their surroundings. Not to mention, the CG cans do not mesh well with the 2D animated characters, as they look like they belong in a Newgrounds short than something from a professional animator. Also, the camera movements are bizarrely uneven and they actually make you feel more queasy than the piss poor attempts at shock humor. For something that took seven years to produce, the animation might as well belong in an unlabeled can.

Come to think of it, it's no wonder this cartoon took nearly 3/4 of a decade to make, because Kricfalusi has never met a deadline since his days working for Ralph Bakshi. Needless to say, not only does Cans Without Labels fail as a cartoon due to its boring pacing and nauseating animation, but what it offers in terms of content is so bad that I don't think anybody would be willing to touch it with a 3 foot pole. It's a testament to how bad this cartoon is when even the unfinished cut flows better than the final product. To everyone out there wanting to get their products made, make sure you set straight goals ahead so you can always be on a tight schedule without worrying your supporters. Otherwise, you could end up as an arrogant purist with no self confidence that can't make heads or tails of your own limitations.

Cans without labels, the short by infamous cartoonist John K is quite a ride, in the same sense that riding in a rat infested tub down a sewer is a ride, for me the cans in the short are the representation of the short itself, looks awful, is cgi and not even a good cgi, it´s gross and nobody should have watch it, specially pay money for it. Ignoring all the development hell that this short went through, this is still an awful cartoon, it tries to emulate not only the "golden days" of 90´s Nickelodeon and Ren and Stimpy, but you can see some Kricfalusi inspiration in classical animation, from Cigarette The Cat being a strange mix of Tom the cat and Silvester, but also a pretty obvious Donald Duck parody. But instead of doing something interesting or at least funny, this characters are here just to make some gross jokes and do the reference, The cat comes and goes in an attempt at Fanservice (Cigarette has been in other Spumco cartoons) that just makes me pray for someone to put the studio with someone else at the lead. The characters are unlikable, from the 2 kids who are basically Ren and Stimpy without the likability, ten times less Brains and even more psychotic to George Liquor who is the funniest one, though that means that out of the 3 chuckles this cartoon gave me, 2 were from him. Is there anything good? well, actually there is, though the short sucks, the art itself is good in some scenes, specially when it goes for George, every movement and action he does is a creepy yet sometimes funny visual, though this doesn't help that most of the time, the animation goes from a really impressive Frame per Frame digital to Motion Tween, this doesn't work for the style and it kinda goes against Kricfalusi method, his stuff is good when he does frame per frame because then he can portray lots of emotions, but since most of this had motion tweens instead of what most of the people who like his stuff wants, it just shows as lazy as Liquor´s Neck. The show could have been good, there are moments where you can see the basis for a decent short, but instead you get a moronic, badly animated mess, the camera makes me dizzy, the transitions are from a youtube video rather then a professional animation studio, some of the 3-d models start solid but then become transparent, this is a mess, dont buy it, this is not worth it, watch this only if you want to see how low can this go, but if you appreciate your time watching movies or watching cartoons, then avoid this, it´s not even a so bad it´s good cartoon, this is just Sad...and you should feel sad, not for Kricfalusi, for you and the backers

WHY ISN'T JOHN KRICFALUSI IN JAIL??!! This guy is nothing more but a child predator!! He still thinks he has a job, when really he DOESN'T!!! Poor Michael Pataki (George Liquor's voice) is rolling in his grave, because of this guy!!

Has John Kricfalusi not learned after Adult Party Cartoon??!! And to think, I actually used to look up to the guy!! Well, now I know why people say Bob Camp was the REAL creator of Ren and Stimpy!! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if John Kricfalusi attempted to murder animals, especially if they were panda bears, because he'd be just as bad of a human being!!! Now I know why working with him is a nightmare!! He was cruel, difficult to work with, inappropriate, and is a child predator!! George Liquor is literally just FORCING his nephews to eat the face that in a can with no label. This guy loves to slander Spielberg for absolutely no reason!!!

I am convinced that John Kricfalusi is no longer talented!!! Yes, just because someone isn't talented, doesn't mean they're a bad person, unless that someone is Justin Bieber or John Kricfalusi.

The writing is abysmal, the animation is way too over the top, the art is now atrocious, just EVERYTHING about this short is awful!!! Why was this made??!! This guy needs to be arrested for being a child predator!!!

Awful. It look awful. the animation are ugly . the story is *VERY* abysmal. But you might watch pixar shorts or veggietales.

Most people who complain about this short, seem to be people who donated to the Kickstarter campaign and are angry about the super long delay. And while I fully understand that there's no way this lives up to expectations after waiting to see it for some 7 years, the casual Ren & Stimpy fan who knew nothing about the whole Kickstarter failure will find plenty to enjoy here. It's wacky and weird, just in the style of Ren & Stimpy, and actually had me laughing a few times.

See it with an open mind, and I think you'll be surprised =)