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.
Many of the previous Chilly Willy cartoons were very good to fabulous, especially the two directed by Tex Avery, which were also two of his overall best (especially 'The Legend of Rockabye Point'). Was very pleasantly surprised by Jack Hannah's contributions, which did a surprisingly good job with budget limitations and brought enough freshness to a predictable and potentially tired formula. 'Pesky Pelican' is little improvement over Sid Marcus' first Chilly Willy cartoon 'Salmon Loafer'. It may not be quite as formulaic in terms of basic story, being not centred as much around fish but it suffers from budget limitations, repetition and predictability and the lack of Smedley.
'Pesky Pelican' is a very predictable cartoon in terms of structure and what the outcomes are going to be. It's also very repetitive in the action too much, the action is amusing but it is so "you've seen it all before". Pacing need more sharpness in places, and while colourful a lot of the animation looks rushed, a lot of the drawing actually looks ugly, and betrays low budget and time constraints.
Worst of all is the pelican character. Pesky doesn't describe him enough, he is a bland foil for Chilly, lacks comic timing and is actually very annoying. Despite any different character deserving a fair chance, Smedley is very much missed. Chilly is the far more interesting and funnier character and the chemistry just doesn't sparkle.
On the other hand, there are a good number of good things. While Clarence Wheeler's music had more bounce and more appealing orchestration, Walter Greene's scoring has a liveliness and fits well.
Some of the gags are hurt by the lack of variety but most are amusing and are timed well. Love ingenious plunger-fishing style, and who wouldn't desperately want an ice phone after seeing this cartoon.
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.
Altogether, average effort livened up by Chilly but let down mainly by the pelican character, the predictable and repetitive feel of the cartoon and the weak animation quality. 5/10 Bethany Cox
