michaelpemberton-26370

This was the last Beary Family short, & good riddance. Terribly depressing to see such a promising series go top waste in less than a decade. Thankfully, the series didn't go out with probably one of their worst shorts ever, "Rain, Rain Go Away", but instead ends off on a passable short. To begin with, the story does have some depth to it, with the characters being slightly more fleshed out than usual. Alongside this, their personalities aren't are dry as bread this time around. Also, this is one of the few instances where I think Charlie deserves what he gets in the end, sort of. The animation in this one seems to be slightly improved from previous shorts, with he second half containing the half-decent work of Al Coe. The gags themselves are too bad this time around, with better timing than in previous shorts, as well. However, it's far from perfect. Everything here could've been done way better, & Paul J. Smith really seems to have done the bare minimum, no pun intended. Despite all the negatives I have with this short, it's far more watchable than MOST of the previous shorts from this series, & for that reason, I can at least recommend giving it one watch. With that, I bid a farewell to one of the worst series I've ever watched.

To be honest, most of the Beary Family shorts are really monotonous, with Jr. & Charlie always getting up to something because of Bessie & then she ends up being a total jerk to Charlie. Not only that, but the later shorts just lack any sort of substance to them, with animation that makes even cave drawings look like Picasso. This is definitely one of their worst ones. First off, the cartoon just makes it abundantly clear that it's lazy, with it just wanting a scenario where it can do anything to hurt or cause suffering to Charlie. Bessie isn't really in this one that much, but the scenes with her are annoying. She seems like the opposite of the whole stereotypical family trend that was going on in the late 50's-early 60's in cartoons. Also, the antics just don't have any punch to them, with timing that could've been done better by a 5th grader. Lastly, the animation pretty much demolishes any & all hope left of actually having any sort of remotely funny moment in this cartoon. All in all, stay away from this abomination!

Many of Woody's later shorts, especially from the early 60's onwards, were only decent at the most. However, Sid Marcus really began to bloom around 1964, & between 63'-66' he would make some truly classic shorts at Lantz's Studio. This one is, of course, a parody of the Three Little Pigs. However, all the characters are fleshed out well here, with Knothead, Splinter, Woody, & the Wolf all fitting their roles perfectly. The side gags inbetween the Wolf's failed attempts to capture Woody & his kids are really entertaining, & the final climax leading up to the pie scene is just a treat to watch. Admittedly, the animation could've been a little spiced up, although here it's all above solid. Lantz's studio had better animation than most other studios during this time period, I'd say. This is really just a fun time the whole way through, which is unfortunate since this cartoon seems to be difficult to actually find a copy of. There's currently only a low quality version available on both Dailymotion & Vimeo, but even then it's still a fantastic short!