Porky's Midnight Matinee

I never really liked "Porky" - maybe because I found cartoons much funnier when the slapstick antics were just scored. The squeaky voices attributed to the characters always rather put me off. This one sees our eponymous stage hand discover an ant in a cage. He releases it thinking he can toy with it, but of course this turns out to be a rare and ingenious pygmy specimen that's more than a match for his would-be trottered tormentor! I did quite like the last scene, a turn up for the books but for the most part there's nothing really memorable about this short David and Goliath style feature with a touch more audience engagement from his formicate foe.

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.

Chuck Jones deserves his status as one of animation's most legendary, greatest and most important directors/animators. He may have lacked the outrageousness and wild wackiness of Bob Clampett and Tex Avery, but the visual imagination, wit and what he did with some of the best-known and most iconic characters ever were just as special. 'Porky's Midnight Matinee' may not be one of his best cartoons or see him on the most top of forms, but it is not one of the finding-his-feet quality of his earlier cartoons.

Porky is amusing and likeable, if slightly bland. Have always thought that, while a pretty decent lead character he fared better playing it straight paired with characters with funnier material and more interesting personalities, one of the strongest examples being Daffy Duck.

The story is basic and predictable, showing in some, but not all, of the pacing, which is mostly lively but on occasions momentum is lacking. Wittier and funnier material would have helped, with it showing at times that it was an early effort for Jones. 'Porky's Midnight Matinee' is very amusing but is not hilarious or imaginative enough compared to Jones' later classics. Am aware that it is unfair to compare but it's hard not to.

Yes, also know what one of the previous reviewers is coming from being confused by the title, it is a curious one and the events don't match what the word matinee is associated with by me. My definition of matinee is indeed a showing of something in the early afternoon, certainly not at midnight.

Mel Blanc's voice acting as ever shows how amazing and multi-talented a voice actor he was, showing a knack for bringing an individuality and different personalities to every character he voiced (a vast majority of the time being multiple characters in the same cartoon.

Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. Jones does direct very solidly, and 'Porky's Midnight Matinee' does have amusing and decently timed material that benefits from Blanc's impeccable voicing and comic timing. The pygmy is a fun supporting character, and a pretty sadistic one without being distastefully so.

Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Overall, pretty good but not great or outstanding. 7/10 Bethany Cox

To me, "Porky's Midnight Matinée" seems like one of the cartoons that the Termite Terrace crowd made as a sort of place holder between the really cool ones ("Wabbit Twouble" was released a few weeks after this one). It's got a fairly interesting plot line, as Porky Pig is cleaning a backstage area and comes across a sadistic trained ant. Some of the things that the ant does to him mirror what Tweety would later do to Sylvester.

There's just one thing, though. I don't quite understand the title. I've always thought that a matinée is a movie showing during the day (thus the title of Joe Dante's movie "Matinee"). But I guess that I shouldn't dwell on that. Worth seeing.