Barney Bear's 'Polar Pest'

Barney Bear is settled in for his winter hibernation in his comfortable cabin when there is a knock at the door. It's his nephew from the North Pole, a sweet-faced and honey-voiced little polar bear, who's there for the winter. And, of course, he won't let Barney sleep, the way bears are supposed to. Instead he wants to go fishing on the ice-covered river.

This, you may well imagine, is not fated to turn out well. This was Barney's lot in life and the cartoons. Like W. C. Fields, he's a bear who wants to be left alone, and won't be. And comic disaster will result - comic for the audience, not so much for Barney.

Gordon George was one of the first hires that Hugh Harman made when MGM told him to take over cartoon production, and the man was indeed a gifted cartoonist, even if his output was never great -- until forty years later when he directed hundreds of Smurf episodes. Barney was never MGM's top cartoon franchise, but he was a dependable funnyman -- funnybear -- and this is a funny cartoon.

Barney Bear was a fairly prominent character paterned after the on-screen persona developed by actor Wallace Beery. He was craggy, cranky and cantankerous with a secret soft spot that showed occasionally. At its best, the series was often excellent. The gruff Barney was a lot more interesting and entertaining than the "nice" Barney. He was certainly more in character. Here, Barney is visited by his nephew just when he is trying to settle into hibernation and scarcely in the mood for a visitor. The results are roughly akin to a convention of drunken Shriners on mopeds run amok in a glassmaker's factory-not at all pretty. Has many good moments and is a decent, though hardly stellar, effort. Worth watching and recommended.

Barney Bear's hibernation is interrupted by his polar bear nephew from the North Pole. It's too warm for the nephew to go the sleep. It's a very simple Barney Bear premise and execution. It's a standard Barney Bear problem. Someone is keeping him from hibernation. It's interesting to have a polar bear nephew although they should definitely give him a name. He needs a name in case he could be a recurring character. This is generally fine.

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 previous cartoon 'Bear Raid Warden' was the first Barney Bear cartoon to not be directed by Ising, 'Barney Bear's Polar Pest' is George Gordon's second of three outings and while there's much better in the series it's pretty good. It's slight, even for a Barney cartoon, and if you are familiar with the concept of many of the previous cartoons you'll know where the cartoon is heading from the outset. While his nephew has his cute moments, Barney has had "pest" characters that are funnier and more interesting.

However, as to be expected, Barney is fun and adorable, with his personality yet to be simplified, and is easy to root for. The animation is colourful and beautifully drawn with fluid movements and meticulous attention to detail. The amount of detail given to Barney's character design was incredibly nuanced and it was a shame that it became simplified later on and lost its special uniqueness.

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.

'Barney Bear's Polar Pest' may not be hilarious or original, more the odd sprinkling of amusing silly chuckles kind, but it has a lot of simple charm, is nicely paced and is all round pleasant to watch.

In conclusion, pretty decent but not one of the better Barney cartoons. 7/10 Bethany Cox