Crackpot Cruise

'Crackpot Cruise' (1939)

Opening thoughts: Alex Lovy's work as director and associate producer varied a lot, but when he was on form the cartoons had a lot of good things. When he was not, which was primarily in his later career where tighter deadlines and lower budgets affected the quality, the cartoons in question were average or less. Many of his cartoons are worth watching and few were downright bad, but as said he was up and down.

'Crackpot Cruise' was not watched with high expectations, with such an old hat and thin premise and that some of the material sounded tasteless. The good news was that it was not awful, had enough good things and it started well. The bad news is that it was more or less what was expected and was overall pretty average. Not one of Lovy's worst by any stretch but closer to a miss than a hit.

Good things: 'Crackpot Cruise' has some things executed well. The animation is lush and colourful, with no signs of being rushed or static. Quite amazing considering how much the animation and writing qualities had declined a lot for the studio. Even better is the music, which is beautifully orchestrated and characterful.

Furthermore, the vocals are done with enthusiasm that is not present in most of the execution. The cartoon actually starts off pretty decently. The aural running gag is very funny and luckily didn't get repetitive, a danger with running gags.

Bad things: Sadly any effort present in some aspects are not present in others. The story is practically plotless and merely a series of old hat events cobbled together. Calling it thin is an understatement and energy is badly lacking, especially in the very bland second half.

It is also equally badly lacking in compelling characters, which are basically stereotypes with barely there personalities. It is mostly not funny in a cartoon with too few gags and some of the material agreed is in bad taste and dated.

Closing thoughts: Overall, pretty average.

5/10.