User Reviews

Kiko the Kangaroo takes his young charges onto the ice for the usual winter frolics in this latest iteration of a typical Terrytoon.

Co-Directors Manny Davis and George Gordon do a typically fine job with this cartoon, which Terry had been producing variations on since the 1920s. There are some amusing gags; there are moments of beauty, mostly involving graceful moments; and there is an arc of increasingly frantic events, culminating in a chase that serves as a decent plot for such cartoons. The result is decent, but given that Terry redid this cartoon every couple of years, the incremental improvement does not overwhelm the seen-it-all-before factor.

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. 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.

1937, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch, more so than the other years even. Of which 'The Hay Ride' is one of the middling ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons and one of the middling 1937 cartoons. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. 'The Hay Ride' is also watchable, completest sake is the main reason to see it but it's not the only reason.

Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. 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. The ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is still great to see, as is the comparatively improved fluidity of drawing and movement, and some synchronisation is neat.

A few amusing moments, some imaginative and there is some zest and natural charm, and parts of it and the basic set up are neat. Some support is fun.

Outside of the backgrounds and more fluidity than seen previously however, the animation in transitions is primitive and crude sometimes. Kiko is watchable enough as a support character but he doesn't have enough of a strong personality as a lead.

Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic with not an awful lot to it (like the cartoon in general). Gags aren't enough, they are not always very organised (fairly scattershot), and there is not much especially memorable about some and some don't serve much point. The cartoon tends to veer towards being too cute and a lot of it is pretty predictable. Some choppiness too and the cartoon feels very old fashioned with not all the characters being particularly memorable.

Overall, watchable if unexceptional. 5/10 Bethany Cox