¡Ay, Qué Rana!

Anyone who's ever had a frog in his voice should enjoy this endearing cartoon from Chuck Jones. Not only is the frog beautifully animated when he goes into his song and dance routines, but the songs range from "Hello, Ma Baby" to an operatic aria from "The Barber of Seville." The simple story has an unusual premise. A man discovers a frog living inside the cornerstone of a building just demolished. The frog emerges in fine singing form, demonstrating that he's very much alive and can sing and dance. Immediately the man has dollar signs in his eyes and decides to make the rounds of agents willing to feature his singing frog as the main attraction.

Has to be one of the most original of all the Chuck Jones cartoons, fresh and funny as ever despite the crazy concept of a singing and dancing frog. (Or because of).

An absolute delight.

Oh what a wonderful surprise this cartoon was. It is just so irresistible and endearing, not to mention funny and charming, and is just a froggin' masterpiece. The song "Hello ma baby, hello ma honey" is not only catchy but also memorable, I am still humming now writing this review. The other songs go without fault and the dancing routines are slickly done with lots of pizazz. The animation is spot on, with beautiful backgrounds, sharp character features and lovely colours. Michigan is a great character. Sung marvellously by Bill Roberts, he is charming, likable and sweet for a frog. The story is simple and well told, and its simplicity added to the charm that this gem has. All in all, wonderful and a must see! 10/10 Bethany Cox

You know, I would virtually tell everyone to watch EVERY short that Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese collaborated on. They are icons in creating some of the best storytelling animation in our time. EVERYONE looking to get into screen writing or story board writing should study their storytelling. But the two most important ones, the first ones that everyone should watch when beginning their curiosity should be Feed the Kitty, which inspired Joe Dante and Chris Columbus, and this short, One Froggy Evening, which influenced Steven Spielberg.

A laborer at a demolition site discovers a frog that can sing and dance. Seeing a world of opportunity, he leaves, and gets more than he ever bargained for.

There are too many elements in this short to count. But it's great. The frog doesn't even need to sing for you to appreciate the hilarity of it all. But if you do listen to the frog, I guarantee you at one point in your life you will sing that song in your head. When people at my work ask me to try to tune out some song in their head, I pop out, "Hello My Baby," or, "Michigan Rag." They end up having one of those songs permanently stuck in their head. Try it! You'll go through work faster and have a good memory stuck in your head. And if you haven't watched this cartoon, I suggest you find it. Now.

"Greed" is one of the great American classics, but so often we limit ourselves to thinking of a film as a multi-hour feature film with live actors. In "One Froggy Evening" Chuck Jones tells the story of a construction worker demolishing a building and discovers a frog in the cornerstone. A SINGING FROG. Naturally, the first impulse is to make money on the frog. The only problem, the frog will only sing for this one guy. Not paying crowds, not talent agents, ONLY HIM. Slowly he is driven mad, not so much by the frog but by his own failed plans with the frog. Failing to recognize the special gift he has, he sees the building going up and sticks the frog back into the cornerstone. Years pass, and when the laser demolition-man is vaporizing the building with his 21st century technology, what does he find? A SINGING FROG. "You know," he thinks, "I could make some money." And so the cycle continues. People of any time are the same, they never learn. There's your moral. Chuck Jones does in 7 minutes what Von Stroheim took 7 hours to do. A genuine masterpiece of animation.

The last two times I saw One Froggy Evening it was in a censored version. In the original, the guy rents a theatre to show the singing frog and peppers the building with posters but no-one comes. He puts out a "free admission" sign but still no-one comes. He then puts out a "free beer" sign and is trampled by the crowd that rushes in. In the censored version, the "free beer" sign is cut. This is not only a stupid thing to do in itself; it also makes no sense since there is no reason why crowds would rush in so enthusiastically to see the singing frog if the only attraction was free admission. The whole point is that no-one believes in the singing frog. Who has committed this stupid act of vandalism and why -- and can we do anything about it?