Terrytoons Studios' output is variable but when seeing it as a completest it is also quite fascinating. Most of it ranges between mediocre and pretty decent, though there are cartoons of theirs that are more and less. The Mighty Mouse cartoons up to this point of his series were watchable if very formulaic generally, though there was yet to be one that was above decent level and Mighty Mouse himself is nice enough if limited.
1944 was not a bad year for Terrytoons, far from it actually with very few of them being mediocre or less. There were a few exceptions though, one was 'Eliza on Ice' and 'The Two Barbers' worked for me even less. Do find 'The Two Barbers' the worst Mighty Mouse cartoon up to this point of his series, among his worst overall, a contender for the worst of Terrytoons' 1944 batch and one of Terrytoons' overall worst in a while. Am saying this with regret, as on the most part Terrytoons had actually improved quite a lot, regardless of the stories (never a strong suit for the studio) and characters the animation had advanced significantly and there have been cartoons where the gags were more and funnier.
Will start with the good things. The music is its usual lush and characterful self, not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well. The animation is equally great in quality, especially the backgrounds and landscapes, the characters are well drawn and the colours are really beautiful on the eye.
Of the characters, the most interesting are the cats being the ones to have some degree of personality. They are though not much different to most Mighty Mouse adversaries, those in other cartoons being more sinister and with more entertaining methods.
Mighty Mouse however for a lead character should have been used more and introduced earlier, when he does appear 'The Two Barbers' becomes standard Mighty Mouse territory of even weaker quality to before and feels too much of a different cartoon. The mice characters are very bland, again little different to "characters in trouble" in other Mighty Mouse cartoons.
Conflict lacks tension, with such bland characterisation and a pace that never really comes to life, and what little there is of the story is formulaic, veering on too cute and routine with not an awful lot of momentum. The gags are far too few in number, next to none, and when there are attempts at any they are not funny, tired and seen it all before. The writing is pretty corny.
In summary, weak. 3/10
1944 was not a bad year for Terrytoons, far from it actually with very few of them being mediocre or less. There were a few exceptions though, one was 'Eliza on Ice' and 'The Two Barbers' worked for me even less. Do find 'The Two Barbers' the worst Mighty Mouse cartoon up to this point of his series, among his worst overall, a contender for the worst of Terrytoons' 1944 batch and one of Terrytoons' overall worst in a while. Am saying this with regret, as on the most part Terrytoons had actually improved quite a lot, regardless of the stories (never a strong suit for the studio) and characters the animation had advanced significantly and there have been cartoons where the gags were more and funnier.
Will start with the good things. The music is its usual lush and characterful self, not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well. The animation is equally great in quality, especially the backgrounds and landscapes, the characters are well drawn and the colours are really beautiful on the eye.
Of the characters, the most interesting are the cats being the ones to have some degree of personality. They are though not much different to most Mighty Mouse adversaries, those in other cartoons being more sinister and with more entertaining methods.
Mighty Mouse however for a lead character should have been used more and introduced earlier, when he does appear 'The Two Barbers' becomes standard Mighty Mouse territory of even weaker quality to before and feels too much of a different cartoon. The mice characters are very bland, again little different to "characters in trouble" in other Mighty Mouse cartoons.
Conflict lacks tension, with such bland characterisation and a pace that never really comes to life, and what little there is of the story is formulaic, veering on too cute and routine with not an awful lot of momentum. The gags are far too few in number, next to none, and when there are attempts at any they are not funny, tired and seen it all before. The writing is pretty corny.
In summary, weak. 3/10
