Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

Whew, does this animated short look dated. Well, maybe because it was one of the first of the talkie cartoons. It looks it, and sounds it, but that's what also makes this different and charming, in a way.

Actually, this is as much a "musical" as it is a cartoon. The title song is song several times during the seven minutes, by two different Mickey & Minnie Mouse-type characters, and by a bunch of hobos. It's a catchy song with good lyrics, too.

This is not really all that funny, but it entertains throughout. Like early 1930s movies, it has a certain look to it that was long gone by the end of the decade. I liked this, because it was different than most cartoons we've seen over the years.

Apart from some shorts from Disney, the average cartoon of 1931 was rather dreadful compared to cartoons of the 40s and 50s. Instead of focusing on humor, too often cartoons focused on cutesy characters and singing....and "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" is a good example of that sort of thing. The cartoon stars a fox-like character who is essentially a Mickey Mouse knockoff and he is the conductor of an odd, cartoony street car. There's lots of singing and the song by the same title is used throughout the short film.

Is it any good? Well, for 1931 it's a bit better than average and compared to later ones it's pretty sad and dull. I think an overall score of 5 is reasonable.

By the way, the reason I saw this cartoon is that an amazing young Italian guy, 'bellino-angelo2014, Facebook friended me some time back and we talk movies. He recognized this song as being the same one from the end of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and suggested I give it a look....and for that reason alone it's well worth seeing.

The second Foxy cartoon after 'Lady, Play Your Mandolin!', 'Smile, Darn Ya Smile' may not be a great cartoon but of the two cartoons it is the better-faring one.

Again, the story is thin, sometimes senseless and agreed derivative of other cartoons. While the animation is better this time round, there are still a few crude moments especially in the character designs. The very end is pretty corny and feels like a cop-out.

However, much of the animation is crisply shaded and very nicely detailed with flexible movements. Standing out especially is some interesting perspective visuals as Foxy loses control of the trolley. The music is suitably peppy, with an irresistibly infectious title song (which people will recognise as the ToonTown theme from 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?').

'Smile, Darn Ya Smile' boasts a few good gags that are quite funny, especially the hippo being deflated. Foxy, even with a still derivative character design, is a more compelling leading character this time round and more expressive.

On the whole, decent cartoon and hard not to smile along to regardless of its imperfections. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is the third of the three Foxy cartoons, an obnoxiously, relentlessly cheerful short that probably hastened the retirement of the lead character. Notable for the title tune and for Friz Freleng serving as an animator, this is a curio more than anything else. A few cute bits, but not terribly special or memorable in and of itself. Worth watching and recommended if you really like old black and white animation.

This Merrie Melodies cartoon from 1931 is actually pretty nice. The character are a lot like Mickey & Minnie Mouse, although his voice is much lower. He is a conductor on a train, she is a passenger. On the road they have trouble with a cow on the rails and the breaks that stop working. The whole time we hear the characters sing the title song.

I liked 'Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!' because its simplicity, I guess. They do not try very hard to make it special. The animation and the music fit perfectly, enough to make it very enjoyable. The part where the breaks are not working anymore gives us some good animation combined with nice laughs. If you like the old cartoons, this one will not disappoint.