Red Hot Riding Hood

Tex, sex, and Avery Rex!! The king of cartoons sends the 1943 censors a message..when the armed forces actually bypassed the Hays office to get an uncensored version of this one off to our troops overseas, they preserved one of the greatest works of art ever committed to celluloid..and allowed resonances to echo into such disparate results as Jessica Rabbit, Cool World, and Ren and Stimpy. For the record, the plot is simple..the old fairy tale is worn out, and needs some new blood..the wolf is now really a wolf, and Red has more than goodies in her basket..now, go and watch this one three hundred times, and you'll see almost all the little jokes lovingly crafted into it..

I feel Tex has not been given the full credit he deserves for his innovative cartoon work. While 'Bugs' and 'Mickey' continue running, Tex's creations rarely appear on commercial television. I wonder if Tex's work may be viewed as either risque of politically incorrect!

Nope - they sure don't make'em like this any more. But modern-day animators working on pixillated mega-productions owe Tex Avery and his "Termite Terrace" co-workers a large debt. Rather than retell The Avery story (there are several books around that will do that), just look out for his classic MGM cartoons of the '40s and '50s, and marvel at the genius on show. "Red Hot Riding Hood" is one of his best and was the first in the "Red" series. It's an out-and-out classic, with a plot loosely based on the children's fairy tale playing second fiddle to beautifully drawn and animated scenes and some fantastic big-band music. The visual pacing in this toon is so fast that if you blink you'll miss another screwball gag. Look for it on TV (yes it does still get shown, in the UK at least) or even better, go see it at the movies. Great stuff and I never tire of it.

Actually, my comment for this should truly be a simple verbal genuflection, but that wouldn't be of acceptable minimum length here, so I'll actually say something.

This is Tex Avery's masterpiece in terms of the relation of his work to animation in general and the short form in specific. There are better cartoons (some even by Avery himself) and there are cartoons that I personally like better, but in terms of what Avery was attempting to do with the form, in terms of what animation was at the time and had been in the past and what its potential was for the future and the impact that Avery had and would have on his artform, this is the first truly successful Avery cartoon on all terms, both Avery's and animation. Avery blew out the valves, cranked up the engine and blew the doors off on this one for the first (but not last) time here. He turned everything up a few notches here, gang, and it works! It worked then, it works now and will work tomorrow, precisely because Avery had that most overworked and little understood word-genius. Remarkable cartoon and if you like animation and haven't seen this one, what are you reading me for? Go watch this. This is a great piece of work. Need I add, most highly recommended?

This is another fine animated short from Tex Avery. This time he uses the fairy tale of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. After the characters have complained they always have to play the same story over and over again the story is changed completely. The wolf is a rich character who falls in love with Red. She doesn't want him because she has to go to her grandma. The wolf makes sure he gets there before Red does. Instead of a sick old woman he finds a mature lady who is attracted to the wolf. Of course hilarious moments is what we get.

This short has a nice story and the usual Tex Avery humor, including written messages. The short is not really suitable for children, it has some sexual references, but adults will like this very much. A very nice animated short.