User Reviews

There's a song and jokes about cheese, skiing, yodeling, goats and Saint Bernards in this so-so Terrytoon.

There were some plots and themes that Paul Terry's staff returned to every two or three years and had since the 1920s, when he was producing cartoons for Amadee van Beuren. One of those was Switzerland, and the jokes didn't vary that much. The techniques grew more sophisticated with each iteration, but remained remarkably constant. Although the time between iterations was growing longer (the last time had been 1940's SWISS SKI YODELERS), the differences in the versions was growing less stark. The distinction now was a matter of emphasis -- more skiing, less yodeling.

The main reason to see 'Dear Old Switzerland' is in my mind completest sake, if trying to see as many of the available Terrytoons Studios cartoons as possible and if one is trying to see cartoons made by older lower-in-budget and lesser-known studios (both the case with me). They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

1944, and the early 40s actually in general, was really starting to see progression and improvement in a lot of elements. Stories were never strong suits, but the technical achievement was obvious in the increasingly vastly superior animation and there were numerous cartoons that saw more gags than usual and ones that did amuse. 'Dear Old Switzerland' unfortunately is not a good representation of this progression and like the studio had gone somewhat backwards.

'Dear Old Switzerland' excels the most in the music score, this asset was the one component that was consistent in even the lesser outings and in a good way. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. Don't have an issue with the animation either, there is much more finesse and attention to detail and the colours more vibrant and atmospheric.

Although they come infrequently, there is charm and the odd mildly amusing moment.

It is a practically plot-less cartoon however, and although there is a real effort to not make story flimsiness and predictability too much of an issue, the real lack of lustre in the pace and severe lack of compelling (not much personality here) characters make this less forgivable as whether it was overlookable was dependent on how those two components were executed.

Likewise with the gags. In 'Dear Old Switzerland' there are nowhere near enough of them, and what there are of them are stale, corny and not very funny. There is a tendency for the cartoon to veer on the cutesy side and it's suggestive of the studio running out of ideas and recycling existing ones.

On the whole, mediocre. 4/10