Fish and Chips

Chilly Willy's best cartoons were perfect examples of how a potentially one-joke character and concept could end up actually being a perfect mix of the cute and the funny with a lot of colour and good comic timing to go with it.

Smedley makes a more than welcome return, and shows perfectly why he and Chilly Willy work so well together. He is the slightly funnier and more interesting of the two, there are some very humorous bits of dialogue and Daws Butler (in his characteristic and distinctive Huckleberry Hound southern drawl) does a marvellous job as ever. Once again Smedley's chemistry with Chilly sparkles. 'Fish and Chips' may not be one of their best overall, but is certainly one of their better 60s efforts, especially those directed by Paul J. Smith.

That 'Fish and Chips' is directed by Jack Hannah, who was responsible for some truly great work with Disney (some of the best they ever did) may have something to do with it, and Hannah does wonders with the limited budgets and time constraints. The story is formulaic and thin and the animation quality is less than refined and sometimes pretty unappealing in the rushed looking drawing.

Some of it is bright and colourful however and there is some imagination. The music is full of lively bounce and character, with luscious orchestration. It not only adds to the action and visuals but enhances them too.

All the gags are rarely less than amusing and beautifully timed. The chemistry between Chilly and Smedley sparkles, and it is always remarkable at what Chilly has up his sleeve and how he does it. Underneath all that irresistible cuteness he is one clever, funny and at times fairly brutal penguin.

Chilly is adorable and is also a lot of fun, with his actions speaking far louder than words. He may be a nuisance to his opponents but he wins the viewer over with his cuteness and timing.

All in all, very good fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox

. . . picture. First of all, the official summary for FISH AND CHIPS uses the terms "barracuda" and "marlin" interchangeably. As anyone who has read Zane Grey's 87 big game fishing books well knows, these are a couple of distinct and very different types of finned creatures. Lumping them together is like stating that Catfish Hunter was a simple fisherman, or that Mike Trout swims in schools. Secondly, why is Chilly Willy grinding up a stuffed marlin? Does he have a hankering to chow down on Styrofoam peanuts? Finally, how is S.medley able to reassemble such a ground-up mess? Does he also play Four-dimensional chess, as well?

. . . meaningful discussion by a gang of clueless bozos incapable of recognizing a valid "goof," interesting trivia item, apt quote or obvious connection. When it comes to a complete sentence, or--Heaven forbid!--an actual paragraph, these illiterate thought police scribble out, squelch, censor, stymie, muzzle and suppress any comment which would make sense to an actual human being. When you submit a thought about an important film such as FISH AND CHIPS to this site, are you ever reassured by the recipient that "I am not a robot?" Of course not. Such a test is deemed appropriate only for outside citizens, not for the actual robotic ghosts within the machine.