¡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.

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?

Chuck Jones and company created another masterpiece with "One Froggy Evening", about a man finding a singing frog who only sings for him, leading to many unpleasant situations. These cartoons were so simple, yet so clever. I think that there's absolutely no doubt that this and many other cartoons from that era will stay firmly ingrained as part of our national heritage forever.

One thing I notice is that Mel Blanc didn't do Michigan J. Frog's voice. But that's no problem. This cartoon is still great. How they came up with these things is beyond me; it just shows that they were geniuses. A great cartoon. These are the sorts of cartoons that we need to show our children.

Everyone knows what happens in the excellent animated masterpiece. A guy finds a dancing, singing frog whom will only dance or sing for him and it drives him crazy. This is the best Chuck Jones short ever (no easy feat), and will be with else to entertain countless generations of the young and young at heart. Many attempts to duplicate this has but done throughout the intervening years, but accept no substitutes. This is fantastic stuff. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It features a commentary by Micheal Barrier, as well as an optional music only track.

My Grade:A+

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