Wee-Willie Wildcat

When the story begins, Barney Bear's neighbor, William Wildcat, is about to spank his kid, Willie. Barney is a softie and insists the father use psychology with his son's misbehavior...not corporal punishment. So, William lets Barney try to punish the boy...and again and again, Willie proves that he's a junior sociopath!

This is an enjoyable and predictable cartoon...though it's pretty different from the usual Barney Bear film. Most importantly...it's FUNNY and worth seeing....and like other MGM cartoons of the era, well animated.

When Barney Bear comes across a wildcat about to spank his youngster, he intervenes. Barney then uses a book about child psychology to deal with the kitten.... but discovers it rather ineffective.

Barney was a long-running series of cartoons for MGM's cartoon division. In them he begins with a kindly attitude towards his adversary, but a series of injurious gags shows him he is wrong. This is another funny little entry in the series.

The Barney films have always depended on how good his nemesis is. His Wildcat neighbor's son fits the bill well enough, with each chapter in Barney's psychology book neatly dividing up the physical comedy setpieces. Still, nothing too special (though the final gag has a nice twist).

Barney Bear and William Wildcat are neighbors. William is spanking his son. Barney stops the spanking and insists on using the new psychology on the kid instead. It does not go well.

My main question is whether Barney Bear is this character. This cartoon has him being very pro-active and downright intrusive. It feels a little outside his range. Otherwise, it's an interesting concept with some funny gags.

While not one of my favourite cartoon characters, Barney Bear was a very funny and likable character where his sluggishness was a huge part of his charm. He was also interesting for being modelled on both his creator Rudolf Ising (who also was his first voice actor until 1941) and the mannerisms of Wallace Beery.

After the Preston Blair and Michael Lah unit stopped after just three (and pretty good too) cartoons, 'The Bear and the Bean', 'The Bear and the Hare' and 'Goggle Fishing Bear', Dick Lundy was the fourth director to take over the Barney series after Ising (10 cartoons), George Gordon (3) and Blair/Lah, and turned out to be the joint-longest-serving director after Ising with 10 contributions to the series. 'Wee-Willie Wildcat' is not just one of Lundy's best Barney offerings, to me it's one of the best of the series. Even with a slower pace than the usual frenetic energy of the early Barney cartoons and Barney's simplified design and nicer and less gruff character than those in the Ising and Gordon cartoons.

Have to say that it was lovely to see this side to Barney. It's not his original personality, which there is a preference for, but as always he is a lot of fun, adorable and very easy to like and he always has been. Willie is a great fun, slightly annoying but both funny and antagonistic.

Animation is nicely drawn and colourful, if slightly lacking the finesse and meticulousness of the earlier entries of the Barney Bear series. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the impact of actions and gestures.

'Wee-Willie Wildcat' is a very funny cartoon throughout, and the timing, even with the not as frenetic and more laconic pace, is still spot on. Really liked the characteristic silly charm that makes the series so likable. Veteran voice actor Paul Frees characterises the characters beautifully.

In summary, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox