Pink Pull

The 1979 Pink Panther cartoons are very much a mixed bag. Toro Pink and Pink in the Woods are flawed but decent (the latter being the best of the batch prior to seeing this), but Pink Breakfast, Pink Quackers and String Along in Pink were underwhelming (though with their good points) due to looking and sounding cheap, not being very funny and having slack timing. Pink Pull as of now is the best of them.

Pink Pull is not without its flaws. The animation in pretty much all of the later (post-1975) Pink Panther cartoons was not that great, sadly, while the best-looking of the 1979 cartoons, that is the case here as well in Pink Pull. Pinky and his expressions are fine and there are some inventive visuals in the gags, but the colours lack vibrancy, backgrounds are scrappy and sparse with little detail and most of the characters look rushed. Also don't think much about the music, while the theme tune and that it's incorporated more are great, the same cannot be said for the rest of the music, which is basically themes recycled from the 1976-1978 cartoons and used over and over in a very loud and hasty-sounding manner. None of it fits, it was in need of more subtlety as well as energy like the slinky elegance of the earlier cartoons, instead it goes against Pinky's characteristics rather than add to them like the scoring of the early outings did so brilliantly. The story is formulaic and does feel rushed at times.

One cannot deny though that the theme tune is a classic, and still has immense appeal even after hearing it umpteen times (not all theme tunes have that kind of staying power). Pink Pull is along with Pink in the Woods the most consistent of the 1979 cartoons in the humour department, the gags range from amusing to hilarious and are well-timed without repeating themselves too much. The inventive visuals in them help make them funnier than they are. Pinky is very well drawn and expressively animated, has lost none of his suavity or likability and manages to be funny even without a word being said, while the magnet is strong support and the secondary characters are amusingly indignant.

In conclusion, decent fun, though not up to the standards of the best or classic Pink Panther cartoons, and the best of the 6 1979 Pink Panther cartoons so far. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The Pink Panther drops a quarter down a sewage drain; therefore, he purchases a large magnet and attempts to use it to recover the coin by pulling it up with the magnetic force. But, unfortunately, he inadvertently pulls away bystanders' personal belongings, including a man's pocket watch and the buttons on a policeman's uniform.

Not an awfully funny Pink Panther cartoon, but you will get some chuckles here and there, like the part where the panther gives the policemen a run for their money. You will also get a snippet of that clever and sly-look from the Pink Panther that gives off his signature personality,

Overall, not a bad cartoon overall.

Grade B-