Le lion qui craignait les souris

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.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'Slap Happy Lion' is another example of an animated masterpiece and one of his all time best. Like the best of Tex Avery, 'Slap Happy Lion' is a cartoon of amazing quality, is very creative and hilarious as one would expect from Avery on top form like he is here. Even when he wasn't at his best, he still delivered, have yet to see a "bad" effort from him.

The lion (the king of the jungle) is a very funny and well established and the conflict with the mouse, cute but with a strong personality, is very strong.

The voice work as to be expected is marvellous.

Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected.

Once again there is nothing sadistic or repetitious, instead it's imaginative, wonderfully wild and hilarious throughout from start to finish. The sight gags throughout are an absolute joy and are immaculate in timing.

It is no surprise either that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail. The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.

Summing up, another Avery masterpiece. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Brilliance need not be complex. In what is a series of sight gags, the audience is introduced to a lion that is crazy and the mouse that knows why. And that is all you need. Know what? It works. Tex Avery hits the viewer with absurd image after absurd image until he blasts it all apart with even sillier images. The short follows its own mad logic and creates a beautiful internal consistency. Ostensibly, the plot concerns a lion that used to be king of the jungle and is now rendered into a raving madman, or mad-lion. We know this because for six minutes, we're treated to crazy tableaux after crazy tableaux of the lion demonstrating his power and then falling prey to the very strength he used on the world around him. But that's the over-analyzed version. The real version is that funny things happen. And that's all that is needed to get the viewer to laugh- simple brilliance. The short is available on the 'Song of the Thin Man' DVD. Treat yourself.

When director Tex Avery left Looney Toons to work at MGM, there was a marked change in his work. Suddenly, his cartoons had an insanity to them that set them apart from his peers....and his MGM films are classics. Just watch "Swing Shift Cinderella", "Bad Luck Blackie" or "Little 'Tinker" and you'll see what I mean...he was responsible for the strangest, funniest and most surreal cartoons of his age. However, compared to these bizarro films, his "Slap Happy Lion" is amazingly normal.

The story begins with a lion being carted from the zoo to the booby hatch. Then a small mouse explains what brought the lion to this point....and the short consists of this same mouse terrorizing the lion...much like Jerry the Mouse terrorizes Tom the Cat.

This is a good film despite its lack of weirdness. Worth seeing.

Slap Happy Lion (1947) is another short from cartoon king Tex Avery. In this short, a mouse is the only creature in the jungle who'll stand up to the king of beasts. The lion scares the hell out of every creature in his domain except some dumb mouse. This troubles the lion who tries to do everything he can to teach this mouse a lesson.

A bizarre animated short from Tex Avery. Not only is the story crazy but the visuals and sight gags are outrageous and over the top. Another winner from the man!

Highly recommended.

A+

This cartoon is a prime example of Tex Avery's brilliance and how producer Fred Quimby could pick'em. Slap Happy Lion show's us how too much confidence can run short to the unlikeliest of foes. Avery delivers gag after gag with the goofiest lion flexing his king of the jungle muscles with roaring laughter. This is truly one of the reasons why I've always been a fan of vintage cartoons from the MGM studios in a time when shorts such as these were seen only at the theater. A true hidden treasure of the Avery archives...8 out of 10.

Slap Happy Lion can also be found appropriately as a special feature on the classic Thin Man series finale "Song of the Thin Man" on DVD.