Gripes

Not among the best of the Private Snafu cartoons like Spies and Booby Traps are but Gripes, the second cartoon in the series, while very predictable and slightly slow-starting is a solid early effort. The backgrounds are very crisply drawn, the black and white holds up well and the character animation is expressive enough, overall Gripes is very nicely animated. Gripes also has a highly characterful and energetic music score in unmistakable Carl Stalling fashion, the use of pre-existing tunes was well-done, and while predictable and with one of the most bizarre concepts of any Private Snafu cartoon the story is not once dull and does a good job sustaining the very short length of the cartoon(only 4 minutes), the message is not much different from other Private Snafu cartoons but makes its point effectively and in a way that's not heavy-handed. Gripes scores highly in the humour and writing department too, there are wittier and more daring Private Snafu cartoons but the often rhyming dialogue is very smart and even hearing it you'll have no trouble figuring out that it's Dr Seuss behind it. And the cartoon is full of gags that are very odd but in an endearing way and not only are a lot of them ahead of their time- though the series has had even more daring material than this- but they're funny too(if admittedly more so from an adult perspective), the best of which relating to bottoms. Snafu while very inept, which is basically what the Private Snafu cartoons are about, is still a very likable protagonist and the Technical Fairy is hilariously witty, both of which wonderfully voiced by Mel Blanc. Overall, not one of the best of the series but still solid stuff and makes for 4 entertaining minutes. 8/10 Bethany Cox