We're in the Honey

When a neighboring beehive is dying of starvation, the queen of the prosperous beehive sings to her loyal workers of the need to help their neighbors. Later, a bear attacks.

The impulse for the cartoon producers to get involved in politics and propaganda had not ended with the Second World War, with the first half being a metaphor for the Marshall Plan, and the bear in the second easily interpreted as the Russian bear; it's hard to say when the bear became a symbol for Russia, but it was clear enough for Kipling to use it in his 1898 poem "The Truce of the Bear."

The rest of the movie is aimed squarely at the kiddie audience, although that's one long-legged queen bee.

Fleischer Studios' Noveltoons cartoons are interesting and the series overall is worth a look, originating some famous animation characters such as Casper the Friendly Ghost. The quality of the cartoons vary, the 40s and early 50s output is always well animated and voiced and brilliantly scored. Where it varies more is the story (which tends to be very slight, even in their best), the content (such as not enough gags and being too cute) and characters (with antagonists tending to be more interesting than the leads).

'We're in the Honey' is neither one of the best Noveltoons cartoons and the studio did do much better, as well as worse. Will admit to not expecting much from this cartoon. It did sound like it could be too cute and non-existently plotted with unappealing characters and bland content. Actually found myself pleasantly surprised. The animation, music and voice acting are pretty much as expected but to me there was actually more substance than the premise suggested it would do, meaning it is not as too cute, humourless or bland as sounded looking at the synopsis.

Sure, 'We're in the Honey' is not a great cartoon and has flaws. If there is one thing that is pretty much as it sounded on paper, it is the story. Which is very thinly plotted and could have had more energy in spots and more subtlety. What the bees do and how they work in an industrious way, that is agreed almost political, is really intriguing and quite fun to watch.

But some may find it a touch too heavy-handedly handled and there could be debate as to how the cartoon has aged as a result, as the subject and what events at the time inspired it may be considered very of the time that would be interesting historically but some may think that it has not held up.

However, for all those reservations though, 'We're in the Honey' has a lot of good things. Consistently good with the 40s Noveltoons were the animation and the music. The animation sees a lot of beautiful, fluid drawing and atmospheric colours, but it was the very richly detailed backgrounds that particularly stood out. The music is distinctive Winston Sharples, which is a good thing being somebody who has always liked Sharples' work which has always enlivened the lesser output. Have always liked the lush and dynamic orchestration and nuanced character that was always present in his music very much and have never had a problem with the placement, it not only added to the action it enhanced it.

The gags were surprisingly more than expected and just as surprising was that they were actually also amusing. Am saying surprising because on paper 'We're in the Honey' sounded very overly-cute and like gags would be too few and not funny. Enough of the cartoon is lively, and the characters are quite well done. Although the bees are likeable and not near as too cute as their character designs may suggests, the most interesting character here is the bear, who is menacing and amusing. The conflict convinces as a result and doesn't feel too recycled. The voice work is solid.

So on the whole, surprisingly good though with foibles. 7/10