Odor-Able Kitty

The brilliant Chuck Jones, master of Warner Bros. cartoon comedy, brings us the first (?) Pepe LePew cartoon. An alley cat, tired of being pushed around, paints himself in the colors of a skunk, and with a healthy dose of Limburger, turns the tables on his tormentors. Then along comes Pepe, and you know the rest. Many of Pepe's famous gags were born here, including his chase/hop, in which he hops casually along while his prey runs himself to exhaustion.

In my opinion, Warner Bros. cartoons became less inventive and more ho-hum in the 50s. This 1947 'toon is one of the few examples of Mel Blanc putting his absolutely crazy voice into Pepe's mouth. But the kicker is the ending, where Pepe is revealed to be an American "wolf in skunk's clothing"! A must see! Classic Warner Bros...

An alley cat is tired of getting kicked around. He is kicked out of a butcher shop. He gets shoo away by an old lady and chased by a scary dog. He comes up with the idea to disguise himself as a skunk. It works with his regular interactions, but then Pepé le Pew takes an interest.

This is early Pepé le Pew (don't know where in his development) and there is a difference. He is chasing after a male cat although I don't know if he knows that it's a male cat. Maybe it is a commentary on the French. I'm not even sure if he is French in this. Aside from all that, the basics of a Pepé le Pew short is all there.

Pepe Le Pew can either really creep you out or totally sweep you off your feet. Either way, you can't help feeling a little awe on beholding this classic WB character. This commentater personally believes that Pepe was the inspiration behind other would be animated casanovas today from Cartoon Network's "Johnny Bravo" to Disney's Lumiere from "Beauty and the Beast".

His unique brand of love making is to be wondered at in today's world where his antics would normally be slapped with a sexual harassment warrant and at least a 50m distance from all his victims.

In this particular cartoon, a world weary cat decides to do an ultimate makeover and earn some respect for a change for pretending to be a skunk. All goes well, until Pepe arrives and promptly pursues the unfortunate feline with his overwhelmingly enthusiastic love-making.

The groundwork for Pepe's many trademarks are laid in this cartoon. From his adorable "frenchified" love calls to that aggravatingly calm hop-chase of his.

This cartoon only goes to show that as far as the world of cartoon fantasy is concerned, the most ardent wooer can go the distance...and have his beloved "pig-eon" leaving dust trails behind them.

Fed up with being kicked from one house to another, and being bullied by dogs and shopkeepers, a cat decides the only way to get rid of others is to pretend to be a skunk. However when she does, she suddenly gets a great deal of unwanted attention from a certain amorous skunk.

Although this film is not that original in terms of the main character, I still enjoyed it a great deal. The film looks like it will be about the cat but, when the cat says `I will paint myself like a skunk' you immediately know where this is going. From that point on it goes the usual way but still manages to be funny and a little bit fresher than it often can be. Jokes involving Bugs Bunny and the `real' Pepe are both a little different and funny enough to lift the usual chase material.

Pepe is good despite him just doing his usual one trick routine. The cat is a better character than the usual cat that Pepe chases - this one has a bit of character and some good lines and actions.

Overall, this film will annoy those who simply don't like Pepe but it is different enough to surprise those people who, like me, just find it hard to get past the fact that he usually only has one joke in him. This is not perfect but it is fresher and funnier than many of Pepe's films.

ODOR-ABLE KITTY is Pepe's first short, and he does well but for the ending. I like this cartoon but for that.

The animation is rather strange, but besides Pepe it looks fine. 8/10

The story is good, a nice change from the white stripe routine, though that's still good. But the ending leaves much to be desired. 7/10

The lines are good, but there's still room for improvement in this department. 8/10

The visual jokes are, of course, minimal, except for the beginning and the end. 6.5/10

Overall, this cartoon is a good effort, and from me it recieves an average of 72.5% and a solid B+.