I Wish I Had Wings

'I Wish I Had Wings' (1932)

Opening thoughts: Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now. 'I Wish I Had Wings' is a fairly typical Rudolf Ising cartoon, whether you think that a good or bad thing is dependent on what your overall opinion of Ising is.

For me, he was a bit up and down as a director. There are cartoons of his that are good, sweet, charming and amusing (if seldom hilarious). Then there are others that are not so good, too cutesy and tired with bland characters and barely existent storytelling. 'I Wish I Had Wings' is not one of his best or worst, instead it is one of the slightly above average middle cartoons of his. Was a bit mixed on this, with both mentioned extremes presents.

Good things: 'I Wish I Had Wings' has plenty of good things. The animation is lively and beautifully detailed in the never too simplistic backgrounds. The characters move fluidly and there didn't seem to be any stiffness. The music is characterful and lusciously orchestrated, not only does it add significantly to the action it also enhances it especially at the end. The title song is truly catchy, luckily in a good way. Never did it grate on me.

The characters on the whole were appealing and amusing. It is charmingly cute, there is some nice energy and the first half is good fun. As is the ending where the cartoon picks up in momentum. The voice work is fine.

Bad things: However, there are things that could have been done better. Was not expecting much from the story, which has never been a strong suit in Ising's cartoons, and it is paper thin to non-existence here. Did feel that the middle act could have been stronger, the pace slackens a little when the story is at its thinnest as do the laughs.

Maybe it is a little too cutesy at times, but other Ising cartoons did this aspect a lot worse. Didn't expect many surprises and didn't really get very many at all. The premise is not a new one and that is obvious.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, above average if not exceptional.

6/10.

If you want to see many of Looney Tunes' early cartoons that have NOT been colorized, I was surprised to find them on HBOMax...which is where I found "I Wish I Had Wings".

The story is set on a poultry farm, where you see ducks and chickens doing various funny things such as chase worms. I certainly wouldn't consider any of this hilarious, but for the early 30s, this is pretty typical. He edginess in cartoons we've come to love and expect mostly came in the 1940s.

The story is about little black chick who doesn't seem to get any food due to all his brothers and sisters. So, when he sees crops just over the fence, he wants to have wings so he can fly to the feast...though if you look, he IS small enough to just squeeze through the chicken wire fence! Oddly, once he makes it, he's chased by a scarecrow and in the end, the chick is able to outthink him.

All in all, a big improvement over most Looney Tunes films of the day because it is reasonably funny and the singing isn't as ubiquitous as it usually was. My score of 7 is relative to other cartoons from 1932...and by today's standards it's still a bit limp.