Tabasco Road

Like many of the Warner Brothers cartoons of the late 1950s, the beautiful backgrounds and gorgeous animation were giving way to a UPA-style of cartoon making--with crappy backgrounds and simpler characters. While this particular cartoon is still very watchable, it's not up to the quality standards of the studios cartoons from just a few years earlier.

This is a Speedy Gonzales cartoon. I am NOT a huge fan of this character, so keep this in mind--if you love him, I am sure your opinion will probably be a bit more favorable--though I did enjoy it. However, apparently Speedy and his alcoholic friends are not politically correct, as the film had an added speech in the prologue about hurtful stereotypes. However, I saw this same cartoon many times as a child and never once assumed all Mexicans (or Mexican mice) were alcoholics nor did they run at 100 miles per hour! And, unless you are VERY thin-skinned, I think you'll enjoy the heck out of this violent little cartoon (yeah, violence!). It's quite funny and very good despite the budget cutbacks at Looney Tunes.

Speedy Gonzales was essentially a one-note character (kind of like the Roadrunner) so the quality of a Speedy cartoon is largely dependent on the surrounding characters and situations they get themselves into rather than Speedy himself. The two mice Speedy is rescuing frequently, Pablo and Fernando are excellent characters. The songs they sing in this are very funny and the situations that arise from their actins are what makes the cartoon. Not easy to find and rarely aired on Cartoon Network, but well worth digging up and Recommended.

Speedy Gonzales is the subject of a big celebration at the local mice saloon. As the bar closes, his friends start to depart. Two of them, Pablo and Fernando, are stumbling into the night together. They are stalked and pursued by a big alley cat. It is up to Speedy to rescue his drunken friends.

It is four years after Speedy's debut and his third outing with the classic design. He is a Mexican villager wearing a yellow sombrero and a standard peasant outfit. This is fine for the most part. His two drunken friends are rather funny. I don't know if we should celebrate guys getting sh17-faced drunk, but they are funny.

This time, Speedy Gonzales isn't fetching cheese, but is rescuing his drunken friends Pablo and Fernando, both in danger of getting eaten by a cat (not Sylvester). Watching "Tabasco Road", I get the feeling that it may be one of the Looney Tunes cartoons that drew criticism: it basically portrays Mexicans as drunks. On that subject, maybe the cartoon was intended as an anti-alcohol warning.

Then again, maybe I'm trying too hard to analyze it. As long as we understand that it sort of makes stereotypes about Mexicans - namely with "ceety leemits" - we can enjoy it. And as long as we know to drink responsibly.

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.

Speedy Gonzales is not a favourite character of mine and his cartoons, whether it's with Daffy Duck, Sylvester or other characters, are extremely variable. Leaning more towards having more average or more misses than hits, and even the hits are rarely classics. It is always interesting to see supporting characters that aren't Daffy or Speedy, and 'Tabasco Road' is a good example. It is something of an odd cartoon to receive an Oscar nomination, but it is not an undeserving one by all means and the strange on paper idea that it has works well.

'Tabasco Road' has imperfections, none of the Speedy cartoons seen are even the best ones.

Budget and time constraints, with the budget being lower, resources being fewer and time constraints tighter, show in the animation. This aspect is very limited, apart from some good flow in how the characters move, especially in the scrappy and incomplete-looking backgrounds.

As is the case with all Speedy cartoons, the story is basic and obvious, not an awful lot to it and the predictability factor is high.

Music however in 'Tabasco Road' is full of beautiful and clever orchestration and lively energy. The songs sung are very catchy. No cheapness or repetitiveness here whatsoever.

Furthermore, Mel Blanc's vocals as expected are very exuberant and full of vigour, few actors have voiced multiple characters in one cartoon alone and give all of them a different identity with such conviction. Speedy is not annoying, serves a purpose and actually is in a situation where he is treated sympathetically. Pablo and Fernando though are funnier and more interesting.

The dialogue is not particularly fresh but it is quite sharp-witted and amusing and there is a crisp pace throughout. The gags are nothing innovative but raised still a number of smiles and laughs. For a Speedy cartoon, 'Tabasco Road' is very violent but not in a sadistic way. Some of the characterisations are stereotypical but not in an offensive way.

Overall, good fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox