Munro

I was never a Fan of Gene Deitch but I appreciate several of his Works and Munro is not the Exception!, many Hate him for having made what many consider "The Worst Tom and Jerry Short Films" but for me that Title is the Television Series from 1980 "The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show" but in another review I will talk about that, this short adapted a Book by an Author I don't remember his name but Gene Deitch Adapted it in a Phenomenal Way!.

The short is about a 4-year-old boy named "Munro" who is not like any child in his city but rather a child who DOESN'T SLEEP, DOESN'T EAT and DOESN'T PLAY, one day his mother receives an letter and when she reads it she tells him surrenders his son and the young Munro is Petrified by what he has just read... yes, the Army recruited him!.

And the rest is how Munro explains to everyone that he is 4 years old but nobody cares and this was a reality decades ago, the armies recruited young people without caring if they wanted to or not, and since the short is from 1960 and in those years The Vietnam War was going on and in it they recruited young people who rejected any possibility of returning and yes... many of them died because of men who only cared about quantity and not about their lives.

Gene Deitch and William L. Snyder received an Oscar Award for this Short Film and the Oscar is well deserved! This short represents the Crude Realities of the Army and it is not how some see it, who according to them the Army is only "Use Weapons and Kill". People" that's not, the Army is to serve your country but with a cost, you can die at any time but if you are brave they give you Medals, MEDALS FOR KILL PEOPLE?, but we are not talking about the army, we are talking about Munro!.

The Animation is Own of "Rembrandt Films Productions" I mean Scarce and very Simplistic but those low budget touches are perfect for Munro since it makes it look more Crude than the Short Film already is, but the Drawings and Backgrounds are Horrendous and very unpleasant to look at.

Stepan Konicek as always makes a quite Bizarre Music but it fits perfectly in Munro's Tone!.

The Voice Acting is not as Disastrous as in Deitch's Tom and Jerry Shorts but it is quite Poor in Quality, the Only Salvage is that of the Narrator and that of Munro.

In itself, Munro is not a Wonder but a Great Short that Deserves its Award!, Despite its Terrible Animation and Bizarre Music, both bad Qualities are Mixed creating a Somber Short Film that Represents the Truth of the Young People who Join the Army and we see how instead of "having fun" being part of the Army is Horrible and only the Fittest Enjoy their stay there, for everything I said Munro receives an 8!

This Oscar-winning 8-minute effort from the animator (Deitch) and writer (Jules Feiffer) who would put the lid on the Tom & Jerry and Popeye figures respectively(!) details the vicissitudes of a 4 year-old boy who is unaccountably drafted and drilled into combat duty – in spite of his genuine protestations to the anomaly of the situation! While the style is typically crude, the short gets ample mileage out of its one joke (especially whenever the D.I., with his increasingly unintelligible marching orders, is involved); eventually, the mistake is acknowledged by the army and the child is let go, being accorded hero status upon his homecoming. The character recalls the gibberish-speaking Dr. Seuss creation Gerald McBoing Boing (the first 'vehicle' of which was itself an Oscar winner) – while his vain attempts at making his elders listen to him looks forward to a famous 'episode' in Luis Bunuel's delightful THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974).

"Munro" is your stereotypical, stroppy, four year old kid who wants nothing but to be left alone to play with his ball. Then he gets a letter from the Draft Board welcoming him to the US Army! He goes for the physical and listens to all the malingerers certain that surely they can't admit a small child who can't even unbutton his own tunic. Passed 1A, off to boot camp he goes and is soon listening to the clipped tones of his drill sergeant and playing a quite dizzying game called "face". His protestations only lead to him joining the sick pool temporarily, and all his attestations of youth fall on incredulous deaf ears. Now he's got no choice - a soldier he must be or, maybe, he should just resort to doing what 4-year-olds do best when they are unhappy...? The animation is a little basic, but the witty narration and the sheer ridiculousness of the plot makes this really quite good fun to watch.

Just rewatched this Gene Deitch-Jules Feiffer animated short that won the Oscar on YouTube. Deitch was the former UPA-Terrytoons director/supervisor who at this time formed his own company, Rembrandt Films, in order to have more creative control over his work. For one of his initial ventures, he turned to a book by New York cartoonist Feiffer to adapt to film. That book, Munro, told of a 4-year old boy who accidentally gets drafted into the Army! How this results in some basic training and other activities without anyone for the longest time realizing what a mistake this is provides much of the humor, thanks to the way Feiffer's illustrations are animated by Deitch, as well as the voices provided such as Howard Morris' narration and portrayal of the sergeant, Gene's wife Marie doing the female ones, and especially their actual toddler at the time Seth saying over and over again, "I'm only 4 years old!" to constant indifferent response. Don't worry, though, all ends happily though some kind of a lesson is learned. So on that note, Munro comes highly recommended.

Rembrandt Films is the production company started by Gene Deitch to do some different things in animation. They did some very good shorts (they also did the absolutely worst Tom and Jerry shorts ever), but this short, Munro, is sufficient to justify their entire existence all by itself! The basic premise (a 4-year old is inducted into the army) is wonderful and the adaptation of the source material was done by its author, Jules Fieffer. The whole thing comes off beautifully and I am delighted that it's in-print. The compilation it's on is marvelous, with a good many excellent cartoons. Most highly recommended.