A Terrytoons animated short. The monkeys in the wild perform a concert.A Terrytoons animated short. The monkeys in the wild perform a concert.A Terrytoons animated short. The monkeys in the wild perform a concert.
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Meaty primates
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.
'Monkey Meat' is generally in the better half of the 1930 Terrytoons. It is one of those that rises above the general watchable but unexceptional standard of the previous cartoons ('Spanish Onions' and 'Hungarian Goulash' also rose above that general standard). Instead, 'Monkey Meat' is a pretty decent if uneven effort.
Like all the Terrytoons, the incredible music is the best asset. 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. On the most part, 'Monkey Meat' is among the better-looking 1930 Terrytoons, with some typically ambitious backgrounds (well mostly, there were exceptions like 'Bully Beef'), some witty drawings and some inventiveness.
The first half agreed is better than the second, and is very well done. It is carried along by a lively pace, natural charm and numerous pretty amusing absurdist gags. The characters may not have significant development to them but are not annoying or personality deprived.
Which is why it is a shame that 'Monkey Meat' loses steam too early and goes from good to lacklustre, almost like it had run out of ideas. The pace slackens, the gags are fewer and very different tonally being more saccharine than absurdist, any hint of a story is completely lost and it's all very repetitive and vague, almost like extended filler.
All the effort that went into most of the animation isn't matched by the typically primitive character designs on the whole. Synchronisation (neat in parts and sloppy in others), pacing (lively in the first half, dull in the second) and quality of gags (well done in the first half, lacklustre at best in the second) are uneven and the story, already thin on the ground, runs out of gas halfway through and then neglected in the second half.
Overall, uneven but decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox
'Monkey Meat' is generally in the better half of the 1930 Terrytoons. It is one of those that rises above the general watchable but unexceptional standard of the previous cartoons ('Spanish Onions' and 'Hungarian Goulash' also rose above that general standard). Instead, 'Monkey Meat' is a pretty decent if uneven effort.
Like all the Terrytoons, the incredible music is the best asset. 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. On the most part, 'Monkey Meat' is among the better-looking 1930 Terrytoons, with some typically ambitious backgrounds (well mostly, there were exceptions like 'Bully Beef'), some witty drawings and some inventiveness.
The first half agreed is better than the second, and is very well done. It is carried along by a lively pace, natural charm and numerous pretty amusing absurdist gags. The characters may not have significant development to them but are not annoying or personality deprived.
Which is why it is a shame that 'Monkey Meat' loses steam too early and goes from good to lacklustre, almost like it had run out of ideas. The pace slackens, the gags are fewer and very different tonally being more saccharine than absurdist, any hint of a story is completely lost and it's all very repetitive and vague, almost like extended filler.
All the effort that went into most of the animation isn't matched by the typically primitive character designs on the whole. Synchronisation (neat in parts and sloppy in others), pacing (lively in the first half, dull in the second) and quality of gags (well done in the first half, lacklustre at best in the second) are uneven and the story, already thin on the ground, runs out of gas halfway through and then neglected in the second half.
Overall, uneven but decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Feb 4, 2018
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- Runtime6 minutes
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