User Reviews

Cartoons (especially old ones) might appear simple and crudely made, but this documentary explains how that couldn't be more wrong. Cartoon Carnival is a look into an art form that is as complex as it is entertaining. It details the early history of cartoons, and several authors, animation historians, and film enthusiasts are interviewed. Aside from the more well known old cartoons such as Felix the Cat, they also show things such as Gertie the Dinosaur, made in 1914. While looking crude by today's standards, this was a nightmarish thing to animate, as the artist had to trace the same background over and over again, even if the dinosaur was in motion. No matter how carefully you trace something, it's never going to look flawless. Eventually, they go over how someone invented a new technique that involved a static background that had the characters in the cartoon superimposed onto it, which massively improved the speed at which these things could be drawn. One of my favorite aspects of this film is how it details why Disney was (and still is) so popular. Walt did not invent all these pioneering cartoon techniques, but he did manage to hit it big with things like color film, fluid animation, and of course, Mickey Mouse. While Felix the Cat was arguably the first cartoon character to appear on tv, Mickey had essentially stolen the lead to become the most recognized cartoon ever. Later in the documentary, we meet a very avid collector of all types of cartoons, who has such a massive assortment of them he has cans of film stacked up to his ceiling in multiple shelves. The amount of dedication some people possess when it comes to preserving important historical relics is astounding. He (and most others) realize that future generations must know how cartoons got to where they are today, and the most effective way of doing that is safeguarding old ones. To summarize, Cartoon Carnival was a pleasant surprise from TCM. It's different from what they usually show, but in a good way. I thought it was interesting how advanced these various production techniques were, given that they're often over a century old. Lots of people hold this false idea that just because something is from the early 1900s, that makes it primitive. That is not true.

You may think you've seen the history of cartooning. Everyone knows Gertie the dinosaur. The cartoon carnival has much, much more to offer with lots of human inside baseball stuff. Loved it.

It's a documentary of early animation. I'm no expert. The early silent film stuff is interesting simply for the information. It's a wild, wild world of patents and conflicts which this touches upon. It's not a deep dive but it's good information. It's a great overview of an era of specific cinema.