Hoppy-Go-Lucky

Another fun Sylvester & Hippety Hopper cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. This one also features a giant dimwitted cat named Benny, yet another of the many Looney Tunes parodies of Lennie from "Of Mice and Men." The plot has Sylvester and his sidekick Benny (who insists on calling Sylvester George) searching a warehouse for mice. This leads to Sylvester meeting kangaroo Hippety Hopper and confusing him for a mouse, which leads to the usual gags of Hopper knocking Sylvester around. The animation is well-drawn and colorful. Lively music courtesy of the great Carl Stalling. Mel Blanc handles the voice work for Sylvester and Stan Freberg voices Benny. This is a funny cartoon, despite the quibble I have about Benny's purpose here. I always like seeing Sylvester and Hopper shorts, even if they are fairly predictable. My one real complaint (aside from the lack of Sylvester, Jr.) is that Benny is here solely for the Steinbeck parody, which had already been done a lot by 1952. I mean Benny's fine and has some amusing lines. I love the bit where he strokes Sylvester's fur the wrong way. But why introduce a giant cat that could cause Hopper some difficulties and never do much with that? Their one brief scene together at the end is something but I felt like there could have been more opportunities for laughs had Hopper and Benny interacted more. Still, fun short that I doubt most Sylvester fans will find any problems with.