Scent-imental Over You

Scent-imental Over You (1947)

*** (out of 4)

There weren't too many Pepe Le Pew shorts, perhaps because they're all based around a single joke, but that one joke was usually good enough to get some laughs and smiles. This time out a hairless dog puts on some fur, which makes it look like a skunk so needless to say the other dogs stay away from her. She finally gets some unwanted attention when Pepe sets his eyes on her and won't let go. It would be hard for me to watch the Pepe shorts all together since they are one-joke-films but when viewed on their own they aren't too bad. There's nothing ground breaking here, be it animation wise or even comedy wise, but there's still several cute scenes that will put a smile on your face. One of the highlights comes towards the end when Pepe gets the dog trapped inside his apartment where a little twist happens.

Although the laughs are usually based on a single joke, with Pepe relentlessly seeking a mate and finding that he is quite irresistible, these Pepe Le Pew cartoons were stylish fun from the Chuck Jones factory of cartoons.

There's not much to be said for the plot which had been used in countless other Pepe films, but as usual there are chuckles to be had in how Pepe's love struck antics get him caught up in one silly situation after another.

Animation is standard for this type of cartoon. Recommended only for those who succumb to Pepe's Charles Boyer accent and his rascally ways.

. . . to hyphenate the title of a film? Isn't such a practice likely to lessen the percentage of people who understand what a motion picture is promising to convey, therefore decreasing the potential audience? This particular title engages in such a questionable practice. It's as if the MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY folks put MU-TINY ON THE BOUNTY across the top of their movie posters. I believe that such a misstep would have prevented that earlier picture from being named "The Best" in 1935. GONE WITH THE WIND-Y may imply a gray victory to some, but others could interpret this modified heading as an inexplicable reference to intestinal flatulence. Furthermore, what about those who do not speak American? Do the French even have hyphens, let alone fully comprehend them?

I can't stand Pepe LePew. Every cartoon is a carbon copy of the last; some black female cat gets a white stripe painted on her back, and Pepe tries to sexually assault it. There's never any change in themes, just this stupid skunk trying to sexually harass a black cat. No imagination, no creativity, just the same vile garbage. In this day and age I'm surprised these cartoons haven't been banned. There's a TV station in Chicago that shows Saturday morning cartoons from Warner Brothers. I've complained several times to stop showing them. Their reply was that they're trying to appeal to everyone. They didn't care that kids were watching, They're going to keep showing them. I just wish that changing the channel would somehow get their attention.

A small, hairless dog feels left out when she sees all the other dogs in thick coats of fur. She goes inside and borrows a part of her owner's fur coat and goes out. She doesn't notice that the coat makes her look like a skunk and all the other dogs run from her - however this very thing draws Pepé Le Pew like a magnet!

I'm not a big fan of the cartoons involving Pepé, they all seem to be the same gags and Pepé himself is not a flexible enough character to really keep repeating the same stuff over and over again, he is a little too much of a one trick pony. However viewed infrequently his stuff can be good - and it had been a while since I watched one his shorts when I saw this one. The basic plot starts well, the gags where the little dog first comes out in her fur is funny - including a scene where dogs gather round a bookshop because of a poster advertising `A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'! Once Pepé comes in, it still works and he does his usual stuff quite well.

The little dog and Pepé are both interesting and amusing characters in this short, and the ending is actually pretty funny (although does beg the question as to why the little dog didn't take that action at the very start of the cartoon!).

Overall this is an enjoyable cartoon for fans of the character. I'm not a big fan but I still quite enjoyed the mix of sight gags and the odd cleverer joke.