Mighty Mouse, one of the regularly used re-occurring characters for Terrytoons Studios, is not and never really will be one of my favourite animated characters. Not obnoxious or completely devoid of personality or anything, but pretty standard with not a whole lot of light and shade. His cartoons, a hit and miss one but generally watchable, mostly follow a similar formula and with the formula used so many times in his series it was very high in predictability and repetition.
1945 was not an exception to this, none of the individual years really were exempt. It was mostly one of Terrytoons' better years though and was a relatively big year for the Mighty Mouse series. And it was not a bad year for Mighty Mouse at all, with only 'Raiding the Raiders' and 'The Silver Streak' underwhelming really and even they were not really among his worst. Actually think 1946 was one of his better years. 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa' is another one of his better cartoons, or at least in his early years, and in the better half of Terrytoons' 1945 output.
The story is very flimsy and how things are going to plan out and end are never really surprising, so there was a seen it all before vibe.
Other than Mighty Mouse and Krakatoa Katy, none of the rest of the characters are particularly distinct or interesting.
Having said all of that, there is a lot to like about 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa'. The music again is outstanding, lush, full of character and adds so much to the action. It is also like its own character and the main reason actually as to why 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa' works much better than expected, the ending especially. The animation is another great asset, the drawing has so much more finesse and neatness than Terrytoons in the 30s, the backgrounds have become richer in detail over time and the colours are very easy on the eye.
It is amusing and charming, without being too cute and the hugely energetic ending, show stealing sultriness of Krakatoa Katy, the lively and affectionate jitterbugging and some nice inventive visuals with the lava and volcano. Mighty Mouse, though not much is done new with him, is a quite likeable hero and the chemistry he has with Krakatoa Katy is sweet. The latter stealing the cartoon.
Altogether, pretty good. 7/10
1945 was not an exception to this, none of the individual years really were exempt. It was mostly one of Terrytoons' better years though and was a relatively big year for the Mighty Mouse series. And it was not a bad year for Mighty Mouse at all, with only 'Raiding the Raiders' and 'The Silver Streak' underwhelming really and even they were not really among his worst. Actually think 1946 was one of his better years. 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa' is another one of his better cartoons, or at least in his early years, and in the better half of Terrytoons' 1945 output.
The story is very flimsy and how things are going to plan out and end are never really surprising, so there was a seen it all before vibe.
Other than Mighty Mouse and Krakatoa Katy, none of the rest of the characters are particularly distinct or interesting.
Having said all of that, there is a lot to like about 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa'. The music again is outstanding, lush, full of character and adds so much to the action. It is also like its own character and the main reason actually as to why 'Mighty Mouse in Krakatoa' works much better than expected, the ending especially. The animation is another great asset, the drawing has so much more finesse and neatness than Terrytoons in the 30s, the backgrounds have become richer in detail over time and the colours are very easy on the eye.
It is amusing and charming, without being too cute and the hugely energetic ending, show stealing sultriness of Krakatoa Katy, the lively and affectionate jitterbugging and some nice inventive visuals with the lava and volcano. Mighty Mouse, though not much is done new with him, is a quite likeable hero and the chemistry he has with Krakatoa Katy is sweet. The latter stealing the cartoon.
Altogether, pretty good. 7/10
