Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.
The first cartoon in the "Rainbow Parade" series 'Pastry Town Wedding' is not a bad one, liked it much better than the previous reviewer. At the same time, it's unexceptional and it is not hard to see why it won't be everybody's cup of tea, especially if they have a preference for funny, laugh a minute cartoons over the cute and sugary kind. Lean towards the former myself, but have no bias against the latter.
'Pastry Town Wedding' has strengths certainly. Personally quite liked the animation, compared to the animation in the Cubby the Bear, most of the Tom and Jerry and other cartoons of Van Beuren, their production values came on a long way when switching to colour. There may be a lack of refinement in some of the drawing, but the cartoon is lusciously coloured and the backgrounds meticulous in detail. It does very well in immersing one into the sweet world to the extent it looks too good to eat. Even better is the music score, it is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The lyrics are charming and move things forward pretty well.
Synchronisation is neat, the atmosphere and characters are cute and charming enough in parts and the pace doesn't drag too much. The singing is appealing and done enthusiastically.
However, 'Pastry Town Wedding' is not for non-fans of sugary sweetness, there is a lot of that here and at times it feels like an overload. It is not one of those funny laugh-a-minute cartoons either, laughs are pretty limited in quality and quantity, the absurdist and surreal humour seen in (some) earlier Van Beuren cartoons are completely absent here.
While the characters are cute and charming in parts, they are also rather bland and not much different from those you see in other Van Beuren cartoons. 'Pastry Town Wedding' is virtually plot-less with barely existent conflict, when there are sporadic signs of a story it is very formulaic and so easy to figure out what will happen next and how things will end.
Overall, watchable enough for completest interest but with not an awful lot exceptional. 5/10 Bethany Cox
The first cartoon in the "Rainbow Parade" series 'Pastry Town Wedding' is not a bad one, liked it much better than the previous reviewer. At the same time, it's unexceptional and it is not hard to see why it won't be everybody's cup of tea, especially if they have a preference for funny, laugh a minute cartoons over the cute and sugary kind. Lean towards the former myself, but have no bias against the latter.
'Pastry Town Wedding' has strengths certainly. Personally quite liked the animation, compared to the animation in the Cubby the Bear, most of the Tom and Jerry and other cartoons of Van Beuren, their production values came on a long way when switching to colour. There may be a lack of refinement in some of the drawing, but the cartoon is lusciously coloured and the backgrounds meticulous in detail. It does very well in immersing one into the sweet world to the extent it looks too good to eat. Even better is the music score, it is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The lyrics are charming and move things forward pretty well.
Synchronisation is neat, the atmosphere and characters are cute and charming enough in parts and the pace doesn't drag too much. The singing is appealing and done enthusiastically.
However, 'Pastry Town Wedding' is not for non-fans of sugary sweetness, there is a lot of that here and at times it feels like an overload. It is not one of those funny laugh-a-minute cartoons either, laughs are pretty limited in quality and quantity, the absurdist and surreal humour seen in (some) earlier Van Beuren cartoons are completely absent here.
While the characters are cute and charming in parts, they are also rather bland and not much different from those you see in other Van Beuren cartoons. 'Pastry Town Wedding' is virtually plot-less with barely existent conflict, when there are sporadic signs of a story it is very formulaic and so easy to figure out what will happen next and how things will end.
Overall, watchable enough for completest interest but with not an awful lot exceptional. 5/10 Bethany Cox
