This is Flip at his sleepwalking best. For all of Ub Iwerks' obvious technical expertise, his studio, in a bare five years was the birthplace of two of the most tedious, uninteresting continuing characters ever to grace the screen (up until Pauly Shore and "Dice" Clay came along) in Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper. All the entertainment value here lies with ABF (Anything But Flip). There are some truly excellent and very creepy scenes that are worth the price of admission and the technical aspects are first-rate, including the music, but that's almost a given. This one nearly sinks under the frog's sophorific performance.
A side note: the history of animation is filled with little things which led to big things, like Tex Avery's quarrel with Leon Schlesinger that ended up with Avery at MGM and fantastic things coming about as a result. Iwerks left Disney to start his studio and Carl Stallings left with him. After Iwerks studio folded, Stallings went on to Warner Brothers and the rest is history. Although it could be argued that Stallings might have gone there anyway, it most certainly wouldn't have been under the same timing and circumstances and he would have had different experiences. Stallings may well have not left Disney in the 1930s and Warner Brothers cartoons would never have been the same. Make Flip and Willie worthwhile just for that.
Not a bad cartoon, but it could have been better. Glad it saw print. Recommended for Stallings fans.
A side note: the history of animation is filled with little things which led to big things, like Tex Avery's quarrel with Leon Schlesinger that ended up with Avery at MGM and fantastic things coming about as a result. Iwerks left Disney to start his studio and Carl Stallings left with him. After Iwerks studio folded, Stallings went on to Warner Brothers and the rest is history. Although it could be argued that Stallings might have gone there anyway, it most certainly wouldn't have been under the same timing and circumstances and he would have had different experiences. Stallings may well have not left Disney in the 1930s and Warner Brothers cartoons would never have been the same. Make Flip and Willie worthwhile just for that.
Not a bad cartoon, but it could have been better. Glad it saw print. Recommended for Stallings fans.