El Pequeño Johnny Jet

"Little Johnny Jet" is a cartoon directed by Tex Avery, though its style is much more conventional than most of the films he made for MGM....though the characters are far from conventional!

The film stars a cartoon propeller-driven airplane. It claims to be a B-29 bomber but looks absolutely nothing like one. Apparently, this cute cartoon airplane is now considered obsolete in the jet age. But when the airplane's wife(?) has a baby, it's a lightning fast jet plane. What's next? See the short film.

This film is essentially a re-working of the previous year's cartoon short, "One Cab's Family"...also by Tex Avery. If you like anthropomorphic planes or taxis, then these films are for you. As for me, I just thought it was okay...mostly because although the characters were unconventional, the humor was very conventional and lacks the weird Tex Avery touches. Worth seeing but very far from Avery's best.

There are a few bright spots here but to anthropomorphize some airplanes is pretty easy pickings. The plot involves a WWII bomber who uses propellers and is now termed obsolete. When he has a son, it is a speedy jet. This is what is putting dad on the scrap heap, until a race comes along.

Fun fact, the development of the B-29 bomber was more expensive than the entire Manhattan Project. Its use in the Pacific Theater during WWII led to it being used to drop the atomic bombs on Japan, but after the war, the rise of jet planes (as opposed to those with propellers, like the B-29, John here, or the DC-3, Mary) began the slow process of it being phased out, its service in the Korean War notwithstanding. Similarly, Douglas MacArthur had seen his glory days come to pass, having been relieved of his command in Korea a couple of years earlier for insubordination. So the backdrop to this lighthearted short from the legendary Tex Avery were these shifts in the military, and it perhaps also resonated with veterans competing in a younger workforce.

There are lots of amusing gags to be found in this pair of bombers giving birth to a baby jet, who then zooms in and out of the house while his mother holds up food or new diapers for him to pick up while whizzing by. The smog being removed from Los Angeles was a cute reference to a problem that was just then on the rise in the city, and who can resist the Leaning Tower of Pisa being tilted the other way, or the Statue of Liberty's undergarments being revealed? Naughtiest of all was the mass production reference at the end, and the blush on the mother plane's face was priceless.

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. 'Little Johnny Jet' 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 an aeroplane family entertaining, endearing and full of human emotion which can't have been an easy thing to do but was achieved.

'Little Johnny Jet' for much of the length is very amusing, and perhaps funnier than 'One Cab's Family', and then without feeling disjointed has a more dramatic second half that has excitement and pathos.

The characters are very engaging and easy to like and the voice work is wonderful from Daws Butler.

Expectedly, Avery fares very strongly in the directing, even if other cartoons show off his unique wild and wacky style more.

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

John is an obsolete B-29. He's a war hero but everybody just want a jet. His wife Mary gets pregnant. When the baby comes, he's also a jet. John enters an Air Force competition but he falls behind early to the jets.

This is another good one from the legendary Tex Avery. It's very similar to the cab story. Maybe Pixar got a bit of inspiration from these old cartoons.