Reviews

It would be difficult to make an uninteresting documentary on this subject, but this really could have been much better than it is. Part of the problem is that a lot of the contributors seem to have been 'directed' in what to say and how to say it - or if they haven't, then they've all seen too many rockumentaries and seem keen to play (or overplay) their part. This all gives it a rather clichéd and reverential feel, which, given the oft-stated observations about Nirvana being rebellious and iconoclastic seems ironic and ultimately counter-productive. If the film makers wanted to give a sense of the fresh air and iconoclasm that the band allegedly brought, then using stale tropes and clichéd techniques wasn't the way to do it.

I missed this first time around, but my wife subjected me to a few episodes of it recently. I wish she hadn't. The plots would probably seem corny to a 5 year old and the scripts are so lazy and devoid of wit or intelligence that the same 5 year old would feel patronised by them. As for the animation, I'm not sure I've seen anything made by a mainstream company which is as bad as this. Major characters' faces change shape and size from scene to scene (and sometimes within the same scene). Perspectives and scales also change frequently. Sometimes more effort seems to have gone into the backgrounds (but not always). Movement of any kind is awkward and unconvincing. The typically 80s' graphics for the titles/credits are actually reasonably well done, but that only emphasises how shoddy and stylistically outdated the rest of the show is. Not aimed at me you say? Well, neither is Top Cat or Scooby Doo, but I can still enjoy them.

Excellent second outing for Gerald McCloy "the noise-making boy", which, although not based on Dr. Seuss material this time, manages to be faithful in style to his original vision whilst also bringing in some slightly more sophisticated humour. We join Gerald where we left him at the end of the original story, working for a radio station making sound effects. When a symphony orchestra fails to turn up for a performance, the station manager turns to Gerald out of desperation... A simple idea is fleshed out beautifully - in the absence of a Dr Seuss original to base the script on, the writer (T. Hee) takes some entertaining liberties with the rhyming couplet style and the result is witty and amusing - the animation is stylish (and at times strikingly stylized) and the music and sound effects are once again superb.

This is a witty and delightful adaptation of the Dr Seuss book, brilliantly animated by UPA's finest and thoroughly deserving of its Academy Award. Special mention should be made of the superb music score and sound effects, which are an integral element in helping to make this such a memorable and enjoyable cartoon. Later episodes in the series (of which there were four in total) were not actually based on original Dr Seuss material, although all but the last continued to use his familiar rhyming style. The three sequels were: Gerald McBoing Boing's Symphony (1953); How Now Boing Boing (1954); Gerald McBoing Boing On Planet Moo (1956) - although he also appeared in a later episode of Mr Magoo.