Black and white cartoons are just as fun

When I was younger, one of my favorite shows from Cartoon Network was Late Night Black and White, a programing block dedicated to showing classic black and white cartoons. Black and white cartoons have always been a joy for me to watch because I think they are better than some of the earliest multicolored cartoons that both Disney and Warner Brothers made in the early 1930′s. For some reason, I never really like these early multicolored cartoons that much, though I do like the multicolored cartoons of the 1940′s that Disney and Warner Brothers made. In my opinion, classic black and white cartoons are just as fun watching as multicolored cartoons of today.

One of my favorite black and white carton shorts was Daffy Duckaroo!, which was interestingly enough made in 1942, and stars everybody’s favorite screwy duck, Daffy Duck (voiced by Mel Blanc who also did Bugs Bunny as well), as he heads west and gets into trouble with an Indian girl’s boyfriend for trying to woo her. Daffy (see picture below) is the quintessential trouble maker or money loving egomaniac we all love to laugh at.

Overall, classic black and white cartoons are just as fun to watch as the multicolored cartoons of today are. Daffy Duckaroo! is a fun cartoon, starring Daffy Duck, though the racial stereotyping of Native Americans or Indians in these early cartoon shorts, drag it down a bit. In the end, no matter what color medium (black/white vs. multiple colors) Daffy is portrayed in, he will always be funny.

Three talking gargoyles and a hunchback

 

I must admit when watching a Disney animated feature film, I sometimes cringe because there are good ones like Aladdin and Mulan and then, there are bad ones like Pocahontas and The Return of Jafar. Every time I think about Pocahontas or The Return of Jafar, I get the willies because these films are bad. Thankfully, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (based off of Victor Hugo’s novel), is not one of those horrible Disney films. It’s not the best Disney film I ever saw, but at least, it has wonderful supporting characters in Hugo, Victor, and Laverne (see picture of the three stone gargoyles below) and one of the best villains that Disney has ever created, in Judge Claude Frollo (voice of Tony Jay). In fact, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is an example of what makes Disney so successful; likeable characters that are either objects or animals and a memorable villain who the audience despises.

Disney’s, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is about a deformed bell ringer named Quasimodo and his love for the beautiful Gypsy, Esmeralda who he must save from the clutches of the sinister, Judge Claude Frollo (see picture below). Joining Quasimodo, in protecting Esmeralda, are Hugo, Victor, Laverne, Phoebus (who also falls in love with Esmeralda), and Djali (Esmerald’s clever goat). While I think the love triangle between Qusimodo, Esmeralda, and Phoebus is interesting and charming, I believe that Quasimodo’s interaction with the three stone gargoyles (Hugo, Victor, and Laverne) and the cruelty of Judge Claude Frollo make the film work, so successfully.

Every time, I watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I always chuckle at the antics of the three gargoyles, Hugo, Victor, and Laverne. I think they provided the necessary comic relief needed, in what would otherwise, be a dark story for a Disney film without. Believe me, the original was not so happy. In fact, it was really dark and morose. I especially like the parts where the gargoyles convince Quasimodo to leave the bell tower, instead of staying in the tower and when they convince Quasimodo that he has a chance with Esmeralda, which the gargoyles do through singing ( “A Guy Like You” ), which is typical of Disney films. Without, the gargoyles providing Quasimodo companionship and support through songs and jokes, the film would fall flat like The Black Cauldron did.

The cruelty and ruthlessness of Judge Claude Frollo also adds to the appeal of the film because a good memorable villain’s job is to make the audience despise him and feel sympathetic towards the hero. This is especially true, when Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo out at the “Feast of Fools” after the crowd starts hurling things at him or when he lusts after Esmeralda. When Frollo sings “Hellfire,” it is very chilling and disturbing because it shows how obsess he is, with Esmeralda. The pinnacle of his cruelty comes when he tries to kill Quasimodo for rescuing Esmeralda; Frollo also reveals, at this point, that Quasimodo’s mother did not abandon him, but that he killed her. In the end, we cheer when Frollo fails to kill Quasimodo and meets his maker. 

Overall, Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, is a good example of what makes a Disneyfilm, so successful. The fact that the film has wonderful supporting characters like the three stone gargoyles (Hugo, Victor, and Laverne) and a memorable evil villain like Judge Claude Frollo, helps make the film a success, instead of a failure like The Black Cauldron was. In the end, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is a really well made Disney film.      

Bounty hunters in space

Cowboy Bebop is one of those animated series (anime) that makes me wish I was good at animating because the team that made Cowboy Bebop have something special (i.e likeable and memorable characters, good plot development, dramatic music, and solid animation). Cowboy Bebop, which was directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Macross Plus, Kids Story, and A Detective's Story), is a tale set in the future where humans have colonized the solar system and the Earth is a vast wasteland; the Earth's Moon is destroyed by an accident from testing a new technology, involving using gates to open a tear in hyperspace to be used as a means of quick transport in space travel. Cowboy Bebop follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed Wong, and Ein the Welsh Corgi, as they hunt for bounty heads in space on-board their (really, Jet's) ship, the "Bebop".

Spike is the main character in the series, who has a mysterious and seedy past, especially involving a woman named Julia and a nemesis named Vicious. He is also very good at martial arts and practices Jeet Kune Do (the style made famous by Bruce Lee). Spike is somewhat laid back and generally accepts situations with calmness or humour. Jet Black is the owner of the "Bebop" and is a former police officer. He has a cybernetic arm and is referred to as the "Black Dog" in the series by his friends in the police force because of his determination and inability to give up on a case.

Faye Valentine (see picture below) is the main female character in the series and enjoys gambling, smoking, and pampering herself.  She also packs a lot of heat (i.e. either a Glock or a submachine gun can be found on her) and is typically lazy and self-centered. Faye's past is a mystery to her for most of the series and occasionally a few clues come her way. Ed Wong (who's really a girl) is the "Bebop's" residential genius computer hacker with a very quirky personality. She enjoys hacking computers, chess, playing with Ein, and getting presents. Ed has developed an infamous reputation as a computer hacker on Earth and she is referred to as "Radical Edward" because of her computer hacking abilities. Ein is a Welsh Corgi and is primarily, the "Bebop's" cute, yet super intelligent mascot.

Cowboy Bebop has many wonderful episodes that highlight the excellent quality in animation, character development, and storytelling. The episode or session that I selected is an episode,  I would normally not recommend to someone, who has not seen any of the early episodes because this particular episode (session) is somewhat strange and disturbing, but it has, in my opinion, one of the best opening few minutes (i.e. CGI and shadow effects) in any animated series, I ever seen. The episode (session), which is entitled Pierrot le Fou (session 20), is about an seemingly unstoppable experimental killing machine with a mind of a child named "Mad Pierrot" who targets and kills high-ranking police officials. Spike, unfortunately gets caught in the crossfire, as he finds himself, the next target of Pierrot, after stumbling upon one of Pierrot's killings.

Pierrot attacks Spike by trying to shoot him with his weapon, which happens to be a cane, and to Spike' s shock and horror, the bullets that he returns fire with, bounce off Pierrot because of his defense mechanism, which is a green force field. Spike even uses a barrel full of gasoline as a weapon against him, but that fails and Spike barely escapes. Because Spike escapes Pierrot's attack, Pierrot invites him to a theme park (if you look closely, the theme park is a homage to Disney Land or Disney World) to face off and see who is victorious. Meanwhile, Jet has Ed hack into the police records to discover Pierrot's true identity and possibly a way to defeat him.

In the end, Spike is able to overcome Pierrot without Jet's discovery and Faye's futile attempt to aide him by blasting Pierrot with her rockets; Spike's victory only happens because of dumb luck. This happens only because Pierrot hesitates for a second (this is due to light reflecting off of Spike's glass eye and Pierrot becomes afraid because the different colors in Spike's eye reminds him of a cat that had two different eye colors who would always watch him when he was a lab rat for the government). With Pierrot hesitating, Spike is able to throw a knife into his knee cap and Pierrot begins to cry like a baby, which unfortunately for him leads to his death because he is crushed by a parade of animatronic animals.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop has likeable and memorable characters, a good plot, dramatic music, and solid animation. If you look closely in Pierrot le Fou (session 20), you should be able to see the wonderful use of CGI on the city buildings, especially in the beginning where you see Pierrot flying up and hovering in the sky; this also applies to when he comes down and lands on his feet. The use of shadow is also good in this episode (session) because it amplifies the already dark atmosphere of the story by making "Pierrot" seem almost more psychotic and violent. In the end, as stated earlier, I probably would not recommend someone who has not seen a few episodes of the series to watch this episode (session) because of its dark and strange nature, but I decided to post it anyway, for it has some of the best animation in the series, especially the opening sequences.