User Reviews

In the 1920s, the Felix the Cat cartoons were among the best you could find and he was hugely popular. So popular, that the studio churned these simple cartoons at a rate of one every two weeks at one point! So, I chalk up the fact that "Futuritzy" isn't all that great to a fluke--after all, with so many cartoons, they were bound to have a dud here and there. And, compared to non-Felix cartoons of the time, this is still pretty entertaining.

Felix goes to a Gypsy to have his palm read. Felix doesn't like what she tells him, so he goes to an astrologer for a second opinion. This time, however, he's told all kinds of wonderful things will soon happen--riches, a cute girlfriend...the works. Felix is thrilled...until he quickly sees that none of this comes true--at which point he exacts a little revenge on the astrologer.

This is a mildly enjoyable cartoon with a few less laughs than usual. I did enjoy seeing him hit the astrologer in the head with a brick, though in itself this isn't so funny--I just dislike astrologers.

'Futuritzy' is the interesting title of a Felix the Cat cartoon which isn't very funny, but which contains some interesting visual devices. Most of Otto Messmer's Felix toons relied on a stark palette of black and white: in 'Futuritzy' there's a subtle range of greys which I found much easier on my eyes.

Felix goes to see Professor Whoozit, an 'astrologist' (that's the word they use here) who claims he can predict Felix's future by reading his stars. How does he do it? Easy! He hits Felix over the head, thus producing a standard cartoon-effect star. (Wot, only one?) The professor then nabs this star, and somehow reads it.

Felix has a run-in with a millionaire who has his own personal aviator. Interestingly, the aviator is drawn as a Negro. (A black ace?) Unfortunately, he's drawn in the usual racially stereotyped fashion. I was intrigued that this 1928 cartoon drew the millionaire's aircraft as a monoplane, possibly inspired by Lindbergh's flight of the previous year. In 1928, most of the aircraft were still biplanes.

There's an interesting montage effect when Felix receives a slap-up dinner: a roast chicken morphs into a bottle of milk, which morphs into a fish. Nicely animated! Later in the same toon, Felix and another male cat have a fistfight on one of those weird jutting outcrops of stone which occur so frequently in Road Runner cartoons but so seldom in real life. Since Felix is in many ways a surreal character -- with his detachable tail and so forth -- it's intriguing that he tends to resolve disputes with conventional fisticuffs.

'Futuritzy' is nice to look at, but not very funny and the plot is difficult to follow. Felix did better elsewhere, and I'll rate this one only 4 out of 10.

Even though the version I saw was the underrated Copley Pictures version with "synchronized" (not very!) sound and without the original captions, it's one of my favorites! The story goes as follows, Felix wants to know the future, so he first goes to see a Gypsy who tells him that misfortune is going to happen, Felix doesn't believe her one little bit, so he goes to the local astrologer, Professor Whoozit who tells Felix that he trips over a horseshoe and throws it and it ends up knocking down a robber who's robbing a rich man. The rich man takes Felix to his house and gives him a big meal and some of his money, which Felix woos Kitty with. So, Felix thanks the astrologer and he's on his merry way, he tells his fat friend about the prediction and celebrates with cigars, but the lighter ends up on a stick of dynamite which blows Felix and his pal to the edge of a cliff, so Felix tries to save him, but Felix gets kicked by a donkey and he lands at the horseshoe. Felix (of course) throws the horseshoe and it ends up crashing a window, and Felix getting the brick back (on the head!) and then Felix gets hit by a car which has Kitty and some other cat who just got married, so Felix throws a brick at the astrologer.