One Cab's Family

Cars are people, too. A taxicab waits nervously at the hospital for the couple's new arrival. It's a joyous occasion with Junior's birth. He starts growing up but he wants to be a racing car rather than following in his father's footsteps. This is a classic. It's Tex Avery. It's a fun little short. It's basically Cars.

Tex Avery reworks A STREAMLINED GRETNA GREEN. Junior doesn't want to be a taxi like his father, but a racing car.

The gags don't come at the breakneck pace of most of Avery's cartoons, but there's a goodly number of them on view, as when Junior, having converted himself into a hot rod, goes rushing out of the house, spreading havoc and converting wandering pigs and chickens into ham and eggs. It looks as if this cartoon had been in production for some time before it was finished. It has an unusually lush look for the period.

With few changes, this is basically a remake of Friz Freling's Streamlined Greta Green (1937). The juvenile car chooses the wrong career, gets tanked (literally and figuratively) on premium and races a train, only to end up in a car hospital after a bad crash, followed by reconciliation. Avery reprised with Little Johnny Jet (1953), with the baby born a jet rather than choosing jethood (jetdom?).

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 he ever did. 'One Cab's Family' is not one of his best, animation limitations show in some of the backgrounds and it lacks the imagination and hilarity of his best work. It is nonetheless a very nicely done cartoon with a good deal to like, managing to make a story about a taxicab family entertaining, endearing and full of human emotion which can't have been an easy thing to do but was achieved.

'One Cab's Family' is somewhat a two-halves cartoon, but despite how that sounds it's not disjointed. Just that one half is one tone and the other is more another. The first half is amusing, if not hilarious, and cute, the more dramatic second half has pathos and a good nature with a poignant ending.

The characters are very engaging and easy to like and the voice work is very good.

Expectedly, Avery fares very strongly in the directing, even if other cartoons show off his unique wild and wacky style more. As well done and charming 'One Cab's Family' is, for Avery it's fairly tame.

Some limited backgrounds aside, the animation is colourful and expressive. The music is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, a lot of the action is even enhanced by the music.

In summation, very nicely done but Avery is not at his best. 8/10 Bethany Cox