Personally do not agree with 'A Pair of Greenbacks' being rated higher than most of the Hoot Kloot cartoons and disagree even more so with the rating being higher than some of the Ant and the Aardvark cartoons (an infinitely better theatrical series). Am generally not a fan of the Tijuana Toads series and 'A Pair of Greenbacks' does nothing to change my mind, instead it is a good example of what the series continually did badly despite a few good things.
Anybody who didn't care for the first cartoon 'Tijuana Toads' are going to see little improvement with 'A Pair of Greenbacks'. Instead it is on pretty much on the same level in overall quality, with the same good and bad things, except to me it fares a little worse (but only just). Due to the kucaracha here not being as compelling as the grasshopper in that cartoon and that it is too much of a retread of a cartoon that was already derivative. The good things are few and only merely good and the worst of the bad things are pretty terrible. All subjective opinion of course.
The bad things are going to be started off with. Once again El Toro and Pancho are not appealing lead characters. Both of them actually are pretty bland and annoying, especially Pancho. The cucaracha is not an interesting personality either and actually has very little to do, literally a plot device kind of character that is just there without distinction. The story has little momentum and what little there is of it is derivative. The gags are mostly not funny and lack any kind of freshness, with most of the material being recycled (including once again reusing footage from 'Two Crows from Tacos', which is what was meant by a retread of something that was already a rehash).
Voice acting is again too broad and the stereotypical accents are going to cause, and has caused, offense. The animation is ugly, with very simplistic backgrounding, limited use of colour that is always flat and sickly and scrappily drawn characters. The end scene is a prime example of this. 'A Pair of Greenbacks' is a pretty dull cartoon and can feel repetitive, especially in the second half with the repeated clobbering. The dialogue is stilted and has no spark, with Pancho "weak to be too strong" line making little sense, and the anarchy is too cruel (Pancho though is too annoying for one to feel sorry for him).
Having said all that, 'A Pair of Greenbacks' has a few good things. The best thing being Doug Goodwin's energetic music score, with another infectious main theme of his. Did like the opening titles sequence too.
Despite the cartoon not being very funny, there is one amusing gag. The boulder gag is very like watching a Wile E Coyote falling down a cliff gag, but did raise a smile. The cartoon does pick up a little towards the end, when there is some tension and glimpses of a story. Although it is a very reused formula kind of story.
Overall, pretty lacklustre. 4/10.
