I first stumbled upon this short on the Blu-Ray of the film Footlight Parade. I think I'm pretty well-versed in old-school animation so it's always a happy surprise to see cartoon characters and shorts from that era that I haven't seen before. This is a part of the Warner Bros cartoon series Merry Melodies, which isn't obscure by any means, so the fact that there are shorts that aren't well known is crazy to think about.
The premise of the short is quite simple, a male and a female bug get married, check into a honeymoon hotel, and it catches on fire. That's it, how it all plays out I won't spoil, but it's pretty simple. Some moments that happen in the short add nothing to the overall story. Again I won't spoil but a few times I said to myself "What was the point of that?". While the story and characters aren't especially interesting, the short makes up for it in its music and overall charm.
The character designs across the board are all simple and endearing. They might not be interesting but they are very cute to look at. And while certain moments don't add anything to the overall plot, the short has plenty of gags with the characters that are an absolute delight. And considering for a short during the 1930s, there are some nudge nudge wink wink gags in the short that I think modern audiences might be surprised and amused by. The world that the bugs live in is very well realized, the backgrounds and the settings the bugs are in show me that the people who made this had a ton of fun coming up with this world and how it functions, and the artistry is just straight beautiful. I think it's a shame we never saw this world again after this. It reminds me of the Disney short The Cookie Carnival which also had a great world in it, that never appeared again after that short. That's such a shame!
And being a short attached to Footlight Parade, the music is taken from that film and revised to suit this short, so if you've seen Footlight Parade and heard and enjoyed the song Honeymoon Hotel, then it'll be very interesting for you to see what this short did with it. As someone who really enjoyed that song from that movie, I thought what this short did with it was great!
Overall while what the short lacked in terms of plot and interesting characters, it made up for in sheer charm and its music. What the short did with the Honeymoon Hotel song was very enjoyable and interesting. The characters are just plain cute and delightful to watch. I would just like to say that the main characters that we follow, the male bug and the female bug are clearly inspired by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, from their designs, demeanors, and voices. Not putting it down just saying as that's what was going through my mind when I was watching them. It think it's a very delightful short and while I understand why it faded into obscurity, I think more people give it a watch as it's a very cute short. It might not have the best plot or compelling characters in regards to its writing, but in its sheer amount of charm in the characters makes this well worth watching for anyone who loves animation both new and old.
"So long folks!" :)
