Lumber Jerks

I wouldn't compare this cartoon to Chip and Dale, those gophers are funny being themselves. Their flavor is certainly, English accent and behavior of gentlemen, that was funny as hell. It would be interesting to know what exactly means this world play "Lumber Jerks", 'cause I've came up with two variants. As usually this cartoon was simply killed in translation to Russian language, besides, somehow gophers turned out to be boy and girl :) I wish there was more of these characters to see, and I second that one of the drivers was Bugs Bunny, that was a nice touch. As for DVD release it is very worth buying the video quality is very good, that is remastered very good, vivid colors and stuff like that, audio quality is good as well considering that it is from year 1955, you know.

Two British gophers are storing their nuts for the weekend, when they find that much of their tree has been taken away which they have to find and bring it back. 'Goofy Gophers' indeed, try 'utterly lame never heard from again' gophers. I hold Looney Tunes shorts to a higher standard and when said standard isn't realized (or in this case even close), I'm sorely disappointed, and such is the case with this one. It just plain not the good at all and that saddens me a bit. This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

My Grade: D

The Goofy Gophers are one of the lesser known creations from Termite Terrace. Their schtick, involving excessive politeness and a need to make an articulate comment on virtually every little detail, emphasises the verbal as opposed to the physical and their constant yammering back and forth is a truly love-it-or-hate-it experience. Fortunately, I fall firmly into the former category. I've always found the Goofy Gophers absolutely hilarious and while they may have been too much of an acquired taste for stardom, their excessively talky comedy makes a refreshing alternative to the anvil and dynamite slapstick favoured in many of Friz Freleng's other cartoons. The Gophers were created by Bob Clampett although he left Warner Bros. before he got a chance to direct them. Their cartoons were subsequently divided up between Art Davis, Robert McKimson and Friz. Freleng has done a beautiful job with 'Lumber Jerks', ensuring the laughs barely stop throughout this remarkably slow moving cartoon. There's even a hint of an environmental message as the Gophers lose their home to logging and proceed to trace the progress of their tree as it is sawn up and made into furniture. For those who cannot abide the Goofy Gophers middle class politeness, 'Lumber Jerks' will be a painful experience but fans like me will find it delightful. Warren Foster's wonderfully restrained script wisely makes the Gophers the whole show with barely another character showing up throughout. Most of my favourite Freleng cartoons are wildly energetic pieces such as 'Canned Feud' or 'Yankee Doodle Daffy' but 'Lumber Jerks' takes a different approach and comes up with a different kind of classic and a fascinating showcase for two of the oddest characters in the Warner Bros. repertoire.

Fun Goofy Gophers short from Friz Freleng. In this one, Mac and Tosh's tree is cut down and sent to a sawmill. The duo try to recover their home, which turns out to be a pretty dangerous task. If you like the Goofy Gophers, you'll probably enjoy this cartoon a lot. If you're new to them, how much you will like this depends on whether you prefer your cartoons to be heavy on verbal humor or if you prefer sight gags. This has more of the former than the latter, although there are some funny bits in the sawmill, such as the artificial log and pencil sharpener gags. Great voice work from Stan Freberg and Mel Blanc. Lively score from Milt Franklyn. The animation is just lovely with beautiful Technicolor and well-drawn characters and backgrounds. The scenes inside the mill are excellent. It's a fun cartoon but not a classic or anything. I'm not the biggest Goofy Gophers fan but I will say they work best like this when it's just the two of them. Other shorts tried pairing them with the likes of Elmer or Daffy and the results weren't that hot.

This features "Goofy Gophers," and I can see why this pair of characters never made it big in the Warner Brothers company of animated characters: they simply weren't funny. Cute? Yes? Funny? No. There wasn't anything to laugh about it this story of two gophers who have the top of their tree (where they store nuts) chopped off by lumberjacks.

They go searching for the half-tree, find it at the bottom of a river with others, and try to bring it home, first paddling down the river with it, then back at the mill battling a buzz-saw, and then following it as it became furniture.

All the while, they keep their cool and use a decent vocabulary, trying to sound British. They also get a plug in that will please all the "tree-huggers" out there.

Charming in spots, but where's the humor? Not in this cartoon, that's for sure.