The Bongo Punch

'The Bongo Punch' (1957)

Opening thoughts: Alex Lovy's work as director and associate producer varied a lot, but when he was on form the cartoons had a lot of good things. When he was not, which was primarily in his later career where tighter deadlines and lower budgets affected the quality, the cartoons in question were average or less. Very much the same with Walter Lantz's output overall. 'The Bongo Punch' is not one of his worst. It is also nowhere near one of his best as well. When it comes to the cartune special cartoons, 'The Bongo Punch' is not one of the best or one of the worst of them. It is one of the average middling ones in my view, a cartoon that did start off slow and bland but did get better. It also could have done with being funnier and having more excitement and punch, and not just by a little, we are talking quite a lot.

Good things: Of course there are good things. The best thing is the animation, which is absolutely beautiful. The colours are vibrant and lush, while the meticulous and elaborate attention to detail in the backgrounds and fluid transitions are notable, as are some nice humorous touches. Close behind is the music score, which is fantastic throughout the entire cartoon. Even when the story is uneven in pacing the energy and character in the music are consistent and in a great way.

Also thought that the boxing action was quite fun and cleverly and strikingly animated. There is tension and the climax has energy. A few amusing moments can be found.

Bad things: However, it could have been better. The first half for my tastes felt very bland and took too long to get going. Was expecting the story to be slight, common for the cartunes series, but too much of it is very thin to near non existence and predictable. Mostly, the energy is not there, meaning that it felt pedestrian.

None of the characters appeal and have very little personality and the cartoon is very low on laughs and is too cutesy generally. Only really at the end does it pick up. Some of the character designs lack finesse.

Closing thoughts: Concluding, pretty average.

5/10.

This is about the cream of Walter Lantz's later output. Harkening back to the old musical-cartoon days, it features a very engaging and, for me, personally endearing story of an ex-fighting-rooster who also wants his new son Pepito to take up boxing--but the kid's got more of a natural inclination to play the bongos. Pepe, the dad, holds a grudge, so the chick's mom does her best to keep the balance.

"Bongo Punch" struck a definite chord with me: My father, who was a farmer, wanted me to follow in his footsteps instead of pursuing a career as a musician.

I fell in love with this cartoon from the first time I saw it; didn't really get into Lantz's work till my late twenties. I saw it first on syndicated TV, when they showed ALL his work ("Scrub Me Mama" not counted); then it disappeared. Wasn't able to see it again till well into the YouTube era.

The cartoon does show the late-50s budget constraints, nothing too deluxe about it. But it's simply drawn, with bright colors, and storytelling done entirely to an incessant musical beat.