It's Hummer Time

Maybe I would have liked "It's Hummer Time" more had they cast Sylvester and Tweety. Still, the hummingbird and anonymous cat do some neat things. The cat keeps trying to catch the hummingbird, but always awakens a nearby bulldog, who proceeds to put the feline through increasingly nasty punishment. But the bird turns out not to be quite what he seems.

I think that the best part was "The Thinker". Like the "books come to life" series and the Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd pairing "What's Opera, Doc?", it exposes children to high culture. All in all, this cartoon is worth seeing, if only once. Available on the Looney Tunes website.

Robert McKimson's cartoons are always entertaining to watch, and when they are on top form they positively deliver. It's Hummer Time is one of his cartoons that I've always enjoyed the most. The animation is bright and colourful with everything lovingly drawn and careful in detail. The music adds so much character to everything and like the best of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons have a sense of humour of their own. As well as being energetic and characterful, it is also lovely music to listen to. The writing is deliciously manic with lots of freshness and wit, and the inventive and cleverly timed gags match perfectly. The "thinker" sequence with the bulldog is comedy gold. The story is simple but thanks to the zippy pace it is never dull, and it is nice to do something a little different with an idea that would easily pass for a cartoon with Sylvester and Tweety and sort of parody it also. The characters are not among Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies' most memorable but they are huge fun to watch and all have moments to shine. Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations as always are spot on. So overall, colourful and immensely enjoyable, one of McKimson's best and like McKimson perhaps undervalued(especially when compared to the best work of the more revered animation directors Jones, Clampett and Freleng, all geniuses in their own right). 10/10 Bethany Cox