Hawaiian Aye Aye

Granny, Tweety, and Sylvester are all in Hawaii. While Granny's out partying it up, Sylvester tries to get at Tweety but Granny's pet shark (?) stands in his way. A lackluster effort that has some sad historical significance for Looney Tunes fans. It's the last Tweety theatrical short (and therefore the last Sylvester & Tweety team-up) of the classic era. It's also the last short produced by the original Warner Bros. animation studio (aka Termite Terrace) before it shut down and handed production over to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. The quality would never be the same and Looney Tunes would essentially be over by the end of the decade, until revived later for subpar television cartoons. As for this short, it's pretty weak stuff. There are no funny gags. The shark, which barely looks like a shark, is lame. The animation is colorful but sketchy. Still, it's better than many other examples I could give from around this time and certainly better than most of what was to come in the next few years. The voice work from Mel Blanc and June Foray is good. The Bill Lava score is uninspired but not as bad as his Road Runner work. Altogether it's a disappointing short that marks the end of an era for a character that has given generations of people lots of laughs.

As someone who does enjoy the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons more than most, and who has never minded Tweety(a very love-or-hate character), their swansong Hawaiian Aye Aye is not bad and certainly better than their previous outing The Jet Cage. But it's also a little underwhelming and one of the three weakest Sylvester and Tweety cartoons along with The Jet Cage and Trip for Tat.

Hawaiian Aye Aye does have some nice vibrant colours, the production values for the 1960s Looney Tunes cartoons were hit and miss in quality(mostly not very good in comparison to before, mainly due to budgets getting noticeably lower) and while Hawaiian Aye Aye's animation is not great overall and a long way from their best standard it's a long way from the worst. Hawaiian Aye Aye is also a vast step up in the humour department to The Jet Cage, it's still all a bit predictable and lacking in variety(in comparison to Sylvester and Tweety cartoons before) but timing is much crisper, it did not feel one-joke like that cartoon and more importantly they were enjoyable if not hilarious at least.

Sharkey is an amusing and above decent adversary for Sylvester, and Sylvester(who has always been the funnier and more interesting of the cat and bird duo) carries the cartoon wonderfully, his comic timing as ever so good that he manages to make his comparatively weaker material(to previous Sylvester and Tweety cartoons) more interesting. Their chemistry is just delightful and one of the most enjoyable assets of the whole cartoon. Tweety's song is very catchy and sweet.

Pretty colours aside, the animation quality however is lacking. The backgrounds are a little lacking in fluidity and detail, but it's the character designs that are more problematic, with a lot of the drawing not being as smooth as per usual and some movements coming over as stiff. Especially bad is Granny, who constantly in her minimal screen time looks very roughly drawn, Tweety's animation is also very one-dimensional and like one cell-like(not as bad as in The Jet Cage but not that much of an improvement). Sylvester and Sharkey look decent though. Bill Lava's music is vastly improved over his half-contribution to The Jet Cage, here the orchestration is more melodious and it jars nowhere near as much. Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn, no offence to Lava, are sorely missed though, with Lava's music here lacking the essential ingredient that the other two in their scores had...energy. They also had the remarkably ability to not only synchronise with the action, but also enhance, the latter of which Lava doesn't do as well. It's not unpleasant and it fits, it's just uninteresting and a little pedestrian.

The story here is rather formulaic and tired, even for late Sylvester and Tweety, a few parts veering on the absurd and occasionally pacing could have been sharper. The ending is abrupt and very unfunny. While Sylvester and Sharkey fare well, Granny and Tweety don't. Granny is largely wasted but even worse is Tweety, who is very bland, and neither cute or funny, to the point that he seemed rather useless(only his song is memorable). With the voice acting, June Foray does a good job despite having little to do but Mel Blanc sounds a little off. He was one of the greatest voice actors who ever lived, who rarely put a foot wrong and one of the few to give each of his multiple characters per cartoon a personality of their own. His voice work here lacks his usual energy sometimes though, and when voicing Tweety he does not sound very involved.

Overall, disappointing swansong for Sylvester and Tweety but not a bad cartoon on its own. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I got a chance to see this LOST Sylvester and Tweety cartoon from the mid-60's recently during a broadcast of Bugs and Daffy on Cartoon Network,and for some very good reasons. This was the last theatrical cartoon short of Sylvester and Tweety to run in the theatres back in 1964. However,the studio was going through some major changes and frankly with the closing of the Warner Bors. animation department on its leg,and some of its directors including Friz Freleng(who left to do theatrical and TV shorts for several 'Pink Panther' cartoons)and animator Chuck Jones(who at the time was over at MGM doing theatrical shorts for the flogging 'Tom and Jerry' franchise)went on to other interesting projects. But their LAST go around was excellent,with Sylvester trying to get the bird while on vacation in Hawaii from Granny,only to be stopped in his tracks by Granny's pet shark---Sharkey with hilarious results. The short was directed by the great Friz Freleng and its not to missed even if it is six minutes in length. Catch it on video.

In Sylvester And Tweety's Final Looney Tune Not Directed By Friz Freleng but Gerry Chiniquy Granny and Tweety Are in Honolulu And Granny Is Going To A Luau She Feeds Sharkey a Bone while Sylvester is Searching For Food On a Deserted Beach Sylvester Sees Tweety As Broiled Squab. While Sylvester Is Trying To Get Tweety Across The Sea Tweety Tells Granny's Pet Shark To Keep Sylvester Away From Tweety. Then Sylvester Handglides Across Planning To Prepare A Meal For Broiled Squab Until Sylvester Lands In Sharky's Dog House Then He Chases Sylvester Up To The Palm Tree. Then Scuba Dives Pass Sharky's House Under Water But Failed. Then Sylvester Tries On Stilts But The SawFish Foil Sylvester's Plan To Catch Tweety Then Granny And Tweety Left Hawaii onboard. And This Is One Of The Weakest Tweety And Sylvester Cartoon because Sylvester Being Shark Attacked is Not Funny and I Love The Jet Cage Directed By Friz Freleng.