12 oz. Mouse

Glance at this show on the surface and what do you see? Dialogue that sounds like it was recorded during a weed session and animation that looks like it was drawn by a 4-year-old on drugs.

But dig a little further, keep your eyes and your mind open, and you'll find something deeper. The show is not 100% spontaneous nonsense. The entire series is connected in an ongoing and ever-growing story arc, with each episode picking up where the previous one left off. Such a sense of continuity and development in writing is especially uncommon for a 15-minute comedy series on Adult Swim. But it's the style of the comedy itself that really takes it over. It's expressed in a post-modern existentialist manner, a sort of Seinfeld meets David Lynch meets Home Movies hybrid.

The low-tech style of the animation, the surprising depth of the writing, and the very achievement of the execution make the show nothing short of brilliant.

12 oz. Mouse (oz. Mo) has the greatest opening sequence in cartoon history. along with its heavy metal thrash ballad opening theme, we are sent reeling through an incredible model city (of cardboard) and from there the buildings begin to explode and everything goes wild. the end titles see the building burning to the ground.

This opening sequence has NOTHING to do with the show itself, but it does however capture the insane mood of the show. for an 11 minute show, the pacing is slow. of all the williams st. productions on adult swim, this one is the most poorly animated, seems like the actors got high and made up lines, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but i tell ya, it ain't half bad. it makes that piece of garbage tom goes to the mayor look, well even more like garbage. aqua teens it ain't, space ghost it is not, and birdman it'll never be, but this new 11 adult swim cartoon could find just the right audience to last, and i for one hope it does. "you boys, uh, hear anything, bank robbery...uh-bout it?"

Some people do not understand the finer points of 12 Oz. Mouse. A lot of the humor is in the delivery and is quite intangible. Some people, like Mr. Fun over there, do not see the humor in the show. Those people are not the "life of the party" and are not "enjoyable". The show is ridiculous, knows that it is ridiculous and has fun with it.

This 10 line minimum makes me furious.

The show is still good.

I'm getting bored.

Finally, minimum amount of lines achieved.

I'm going to now go have 12 beers.

For any fans of David Lynch's work, you may be interested in this series. At first glance, it seems to be a random collection of absurd dialogue and bizarre characters. Anyone who can't get past this, you'll probably find it pretty dumb. There's something else here though, a very surreal air. When the episodes are watched in order, there's a very dream-like quality to it all, a loosely tied collection of characters and events that seem to be getting at something deeper, perhaps a dreamland or some alternate reality. I won't go into detail, but those who have seen it might know what i'm talking about.

Whatever the case, if surreal humor is you're thing, whether there's anything more to this or not, you'll enjoy it. I find it hilarious. And it's even better when under the influence. Definitely an exquisite show.

At first glance, you may think this show is stupid, cheap, and overall a waste of air time. That's what I thought. Then I gave it a chance, started listening closely to the dialogue and it started to become my favorite show on Adult Swim. It was only a bonus that the plot sent us through loopholes, and us 12 Oz Mouse fans looked in the dictionary to encrypt a message we thought was there.

The dialogue and characters are all just perfected, even though there are a fairly large amount of re-accruing characters you feel like you know them all well, which isn't that common on 15 minute AS cartoon shows.

A hidden gem, if you are able to give it a chance despite it's early animation (and as you go on you realize it wouldn't fit with anything BUT that animation) you might find a new favorite show.