User Reviews

One of the issues I have with Flip the Frog, as with almost all of the cartoon characters in this period, is that they lack any consistent personality. Instead they are white-face clowns, doing whatever gag fits the story. I prefer the sort of cartoon in which the story fits the character. Flip started out as a small-town character and the gags that arose out of those situations were good. But by the time this came out, Iwerks had rung all the changes on those themes and was throwing Flip into any situation.

However, for the era, this is a good cartoon, based on a standard situation for cartoons for decades, in which the hero winds up in the bullfighting ring. There is a Chaplinesque quality about Flip as he fights with the big bullfighter over the pretty girl and there are a couple of nice gags thrown into the works, one in which the big toreador fights the bull and the other involving a railroad train. It's by no means a great cartoon, but by its own standards it is a good one.

Ub Iwerks's Flip the Frog series of cartoons was short-lived, only lasting from 1930 to 1933. On the most part the Flip the Frog cartoons are not great or cartoon/animated masterpieces and it is sort of understandable as to why Flip didn't make it bigger. However they are far from terrible ones either and do hold some interest.

The series started off with three watchable but average cartoons in a row with the historically significant 'Fiddlesticks', 'Little Orphan Willie' and 'Flying Fists'', and then proceeded with series high points such as 'Jail Birds', 'Spooks', 'The Office Boy', 'The Cuckoo Murder Case' and 'Room Runners'. 'Bulloney' once again sees the series go backwards and back to the not bad but nothing special standard, the weakest perhaps since 'The Village Smitty'

Not bad at all by all means. The animation is good with beautifully detailed backgrounds, nice shading and characters that aren't drawn too crudely. The music makes even more of an impact, it is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, full of lively energy and not only adds brilliantly to the action it enhances it.

'Bulloney' does mildly amuse and charm in places, with a few nicely engineered gags and has a lively pace at times. Not a dull or completely humourless cartoon. The supporting characters are fun, especially the bullfighter, and have much more personality than Flip. The chemistry between the characters does have a little charm and tension.

However, Flip doesn't really have a very interesting or compelling personality which is a very big problem in general in the series. Willie Whopper who came later was an even more short-lived character and to me while also limited he was a much better character. Generally there could have been more gags and while there are amusing parts others veer on the childish. With Iwerks, there was the danger of having too much sentiment and, while other Flip the Frog fare worse in this regard, 'Bulloney' is at times too cutesy, which makes things feel a bit bland and forgettable and doesn't do enough with the fun and danger of the setting.

Also problematic is the very thinly plotted story, which actually is not much of one at all and is very predictable, taking a fairly familiar premise and doing very little if anything new with it. Structurally, it also feels very cobbled together, like an episodic series of events that's not always cohesive and occasionally it's on the dull side with some draggy pacing and doesn't have enough laughs which are very scarce.

Overall, average but watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox