With the odd exception, namely 'Granite Hotel', Fleischer Studios' Stone Age cartoons do very little for me. It is not hard to see why the series was short-lived, twelve cartoons altogether and lasting for just one year (1940). The Stone Age cartoons were made in Fleischers' worst period when relationships had deteriorated, budgets were lower and the studio had run out of ideas and needed more
Although the Stone Age cartoons weren't unwatchable, the studio's decline badly showed in the finished products. The Stone Age cartoons being a big example of this. One can see how drastically the studio had badly declined in 'Fowl Ball Player'. Although baseball is not unfamiliar territory in animation, and had been done much better more than once before, it was interesting to see an interpretation of how it would have been done in the Stone Age. Am not the biggest fan of baseball, but it has much more excitement and danger than is depicted here in 'Fowl Ball Player', that manages to make it dull and tired.
The best thing about 'Fowl Ball Player' is the music score. Not one that will stick in the head for days, well apart from the very catchy main theme in the opening titles, but it is the personification of liveliness and also lush and dynamic with what's going on.
Also thought that the voice actors did the best they did with their meagre material, with no signs of phoning in. A few neat visual ideas.
Nothing else in 'Fowl Ball Player' works. The two primary problems being that it is very dull and it is also pretty unfunny. The cartoon really lacks energy and the non-existent plot feels stretched out and variety-lacking. The gags, not enough of them in the first place as well, are very tired and completely lack imagination, parts were repetitive too. If the narration was meant to entertain and teach, it failed at both, found it very corny.
On top of that, the characters have very little personality and were quite unappealing. Even the animation, which actually was usually a strength in Fleischer's cartoons, wasn't great, tending to be quite crude and very basic.
Summing up, very weak. 3/10
