Birds Anonymous

"Birds Anonymous" is a very good Looney Tunes cartoon. However, I really can't see why it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short--especially since the studio clearly has made much better cartoons that never received this recognition. The animation was decent but very late 1950s style--with minimalistic backgrounds and familiar characters.

The short begins with Sylvester doing what he always does in these cartoons--he's trying to eat Tweety. However, just before he does the deed, he's stopped by another cat--a cat who is a member of Bird-eaters Anonymous. Inexplicably, Sylvester joins as well and thinks he's finally conquered his addiction. Naturally, however, things don't go all that smoothly and his BA buddy comes to his aid.

While this is a good but not great cartoon, I am actually amazed at how timely it was, as AA had only just begun the same year this cartoon debuted. In an odd way, the cartoon brought a lot of positive publicity to the program--so in that sense it's a fascinating film.