Betty Boop, one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time. Her cartoons are surreal (And I mean they are very surreal), her personality is charming and she's known as being one of the first cartoon sex symbols. What does she have to do with Halloween month you may ask, well lets take a look at two of her iconic cartoons to star and rotoscope Cab Calloway.
Before I begin the two reviews, let me give you a short and brief lesson of what rotoscoping is and how it's been used in films. Rotoscoping is basically where animators would trace over footage, frame by frame and be redrawn so the animated characters movements would look life like. It was invented by the great Max Flesicher and he first used it for his Koko The Clown cartoons. As time went on, rotoscoping has been used by companies and animators such as Disney, Ralph Bakshi and even in the Warner Brothers cartoons on occasions. Sometimes rotoscoping would work and would feel necessary and sometimes it was over used so much that it went to the point where animators got lazy. So in a way rotoscoping is like how Hollywood uses CGI, it's good and bad. Now that you have an idea of rotoscoping, let's talk about the two cartoons.
Betty is sick of being treated bad by her parents and decides to run away from home with her dog Bimbo, however once they leave, scary things begin to happen to them. The first half of the cartoon is really really surreal and I swear everything in this cartoon talks. I'm not just talking about the animals, I'm also talking about almost everything she sees such as a flower, a statue and heck even her smeared lip stick on a hanky. On top of it, you don't know what will happen or what or who will pop up, that's how surreal this world and opening is, as well as the cartoon itself. Betty and Bimbo are great in this cartoon but the real star is the Cab Calloway Ghost Walrus singing the title song to this cartoon. The whole "Minnie The Moocher" sequence is so surreal, messed up, scary and weird that it only gets better and better every time I see it. The designs and imagery are scary and creative, the rotoscoping for Cab Calloway is great and life like, the song is catchy (Even if it has nothing to do with the plot) and there are so many scary things happening that I'd rather not give any of them away. Overall it has a good story, great animation, Cab Calloway at his best and it's one of the best cartoons in the Betty Boop series.
Betty is sick of being treated bad by her parents and decides to run away from home with her dog Bimbo, however once they leave, scary things begin to happen to them. The first half of the cartoon is really really surreal and I swear everything in this cartoon talks. I'm not just talking about the animals, I'm also talking about almost everything she sees such as a flower, a statue and heck even her smeared lip stick on a hanky. On top of it, you don't know what will happen or what or who will pop up, that's how surreal this world and opening is, as well as the cartoon itself. Betty and Bimbo are great in this cartoon but the real star is the Cab Calloway Ghost Walrus singing the title song to this cartoon. The whole "Minnie The Moocher" sequence is so surreal, messed up, scary and weird that it only gets better and better every time I see it. The designs and imagery are scary and creative, the rotoscoping for Cab Calloway is great and life like, the song is catchy (Even if it has nothing to do with the plot) and there are so many scary things happening that I'd rather not give any of them away. Overall it has a good story, great animation, Cab Calloway at his best and it's one of the best cartoons in the Betty Boop series.
THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN
Betty is visiting a forrest full of talking and singing animals but they are all being terrorized by the Old Man Of The Mountain, Betty decides to go see him to find out what's so scary about him. In the previous cartoon "Minnie The Moocher" it had a story but it's main focus was the highlight of the cartoon which was the song sequence with Cab Calloway. Here, this cartoon has more of a narrative to it's story and instead of Calloway appearing as one character, he voices and sings all the supporting characters including the old man himself as well as singing more of his hits. The animation is as great as the previous one but with that said, it's not as surreal or mind blowing but it still at least keeps all it's cartoonish elements. This cartoon also has plenty of things that you wouldn't get away with today such as sexual and suggestive themes, semi nudity and use of alcohol. The Old Man Of The Mountain character is really cool and a lot of fun and Cab Calloway brings the same amount of energy and fun that he did in "Minnie The Moocher". Overall, it's just as great as "Minnie The Moocher" only it's ten times better and speaking of "Minnie The Moocher" they even play the song a little bit in the opening.
RATING 5/5
What these two cartoons really have in common is it would later inspire Danny Elfman to pay homage to these two cartoons and performer in one of their songs in "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Can't put your finger on it, maybe this image will help...
That's right, Danny Elfman payed homage to these two cartoons and performer with Oogie Boogies song. The song sounds like "Minnie The Moocher", the dead sing a bit with him, Oogies dance moves and portrayal is similar to the characters that Calloway voiced, and on top of it they even quote a line from one of the two cartoons. Some people found this to be racial stereotyping but personally (And I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this) I see it more as paying tribute to these two great cartoons and great performer. On top of it, he's voiced by African American singer Ken Page who sounds like he's loving the character and putting it all into his performance. In fact, he's actually the only actor from the film to lend his voice as Oogie Boogie in every spin off of the movie. Plus he even appears at screenings of the film to sing this villains song. If this guy is willing to do all that, that at least is saying something. Oh and by the way, Page isn't the only African American to play a character in the film, they also got African American singer Carmen Twillie to voice a few of the residents of Halloween Town.
Overall these two cartoons are one of the best Betty Boop cartoons for many different reasons and to have inspired a great composer to do something similar for a great film makes the cartoons even more enjoyable.
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