Dancing on the Moon

Various animal couples board a rocket ship to go to the moon on their honeymoons. It's one dollar per couple. The male cat gets on at the last second but the female cat gets left behind. The male cat gets very lonely as the other couples enjoy their trip. They return to storks bringing their babies except the cats.

It's a Dave Fleischer cartoon in color. It's a mix of animation and some real backgrounds with some shots of the miniature rocket. The mix is fine but it may work better as fully animated. The cat has to be the main character but he's not that compelling. He's crying in most of this. I do like the look of the rocket.

This must have looked pretty spectacular to audiences at the theater in 1935. The color animation is pretty good and it just has a lavish appearance to it and, as far as I know, most material on screen was in black-and-white, including cartoons.

We begin by spotting a big heart-shaped sign which advertises "Honeymoon Express To The Moon." It is next to a big rocket ship, which looked, by the way, very cool. This was the era of Flash Gordon, wasn't it? It reminded me of his old ship.

Hey, you can't beat the price for the trip: $1 to go dancing on the moon. Such a deal!

Cows, elephants, insects, giraffes, etc., are all on the ship, ready for a night of dancing. They are still in the wedding gowns and tuxes. The male giraffe tells his bride that this is a good place for necking and then she, with her longer neck, gives her Mae West impression with "Come up and see me some time." Other than that, there wasn't a lot of humor in here. One of the brides - a cat - was left at the gate, so to speak, so the husband pines away on the moon.

The music, which plays a large part of this, is right out of the early '30s Busby Berkeley musicals, except we had about eight couples dancing instead of hundreds.

In all, a curiosity piece but not funny and only mildly entertaining. The ending was awful and unsatisfying.

Not one of Fleischer's masterpieces, but it's one of his most imaginative and towards the top end of his output. There's no fault to be had with the animation, which with the spectacular lunar landscapes and the lavish colours are a treat for the eyes and perhaps the most notable asset with Dancing on the Moon. It's also technically innovative, with the animated characters amidst the live backgrounds, it's evident that the model work for the landscapes was extensive and the rocketship is very cool indeed.

The music is very 30s, which certainly was not a problem because I adore 30s music. The score is whimsical and energetic while the title song is catchy(every time when viewing Dancing on the Moon, the song is in my head for days after) and plain irresistible. The choreography is highly imaginative and agreed somewhat reminiscent of Busby Berkeley but smaller in scale. Dancing on the Moon is never laugh-out-loud hilarious, but the gags are still entertaining and the visuals in the gags are quite witty. The story is cute, if less sentimental than a lot of other Fleischer cartoons, and charming and the animal characters have endearing personalities, always did feel a little sorry for the feline groom. The voice acting is good. In fact, Dancing on the Moon's only caveat(personal opinion, but it is also an opinion that is shared by others) is the ending, it is rather cruel and doesn't fit really with the tone of the rest of the cartoon.

All in all, not one of the best Fleischer efforts but highly imaginative(especially the visuals) and it is certainly one trip to the moon worth taking. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Strange little animated fantasy about newlywed animals who take a rocketship to go "dancing on the moon", using all the Fleischer special effects. Doubtless the symbolism renders this full of Hidden Sexual Meaning, but that symbolism lifts it well above the level of typical, puerile animation of the era between Betty Boop and Pepe Le Pew.

This cartoon is part of the Color Classics series that Fleischer Studios did when they decided to try and out-Disney Disney, with varied degrees of success. This one owes as much to the lush musicals of the early 1930s as it does to any animated studios and has the typically grand visual effects that were one of the Fleischers best assets. Here, even when trying to be sweet and sugary, there's a little dart or two just to keep things from getting too saccharine. Good effort and one of the better Color Classics. I just wish they'd been more inclined to stick to their own strengths-the odd and wonderfully idiosyncratic shorts they did so well. In print on the Somewhere In Dreamland DVD set. Well worth watching. Recommended.