Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best ever made by anybody. 'Land of the Midnight Fun' is decent, but Avery has definitely done far better. It is always interesting to see an Avery cartoon before his prime period (all the cartoons he made before his 1942-1950s period at MGM are worth watching though few masterpieces), if more primarily for interest to see how Avery fared early on when he was still evolving and his distinctive style was not as strong or yet to be found.
This cartoon, as said, is a decent interesting watch, but Avery has done far better than decent interesting cartoons. He has done funnier and more imaginative cartoons, and 'Land of the Midnight Fun' was also made during a time where his cartoons by Avery standards were pretty tame. Oh and the story is best forgotten.
Not much risk-taking or boundary-breaking here, let alone his typical wacky wildness, and for me that was a huge part of his appeal as well as his visual and humour uniqueness.
However, it is no surprise that, as with a vast majority of Avery's cartoons regardless of the period, the animation is excellent. Beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant.
Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact.
Some very humorous lampooning of its two main subjects (newsreels and travelogues) and the rotoscoped female ice skater has rightly been singled out as a highlight. It is well-timed, if not inventively so, the characters engage and the voice acting from the ever versatile Mel Blanc and Robert C. Bruce, who does entertaining and educational narrations better than anyone, is reliably great.
In short, fun but tame. 7/10 Bethany Cox
