The Case of the Cockeyed Canary

Little Audrey is reading a blood-curdling murder mystery in bed when her mother orders her to go to sleep. She dreams of Cock Robin being killed and, wearing a deerstalker cap, strives to solve the murder.

This cartoon starts off well enough, but soon settles into standard and even hackneyed paths. Audrey's investigations take her into a night club where she spots the same celebrity caricatures that had been standard a decade and a half earlier: Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope and Harpo Marx. Nor are the voice impressions very good -- although there is little to complain of with Harpo. It's all competently done, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Not one of the best Little Audrey cartoons ('Butterscotch and Soda' and 'Song of the Birds' are up there), but a good example of how her cartoons work best when based around dreams (most do but not all), which allow for some great ideas and visual imagination.

While the story is simple and there are cleverer and slightly more atmospheric detective spoof-like cartoons around that have slightly smoother pacing, 'The Case of the Cockeyed Canary' starts on a highly atmospheric note with wonderfully dark visuals, haunting music and clever use of sound effects. Little Audrey's (as adorable and on the right side of sweet as ever) detective work is a lot of fun and evokes a lot of nostalgia for fans of the detective/mystery genre.

The animation is rich and colourful, with very meticulous and beautifully drawn backgrounds, a darker but no less luscious colour palette and well-rendered character designs that don't look too stiff. Winston Sharples provides yet another outstanding music score, even in mediocre or worse cartoons Sharples' music was never among the flaws (if anything always one of the strengths or the best asset).

Also love the lusciousness of the orchestration here and how characterful, haunting and whimsical the music was without going overboard in either, even better was how well it fitted in the cartoon and how it merged with the action. The main song is very infectious too.

Some humorous bits too, like spotting the fun caricatures of Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante and Harpo Marx (the most priceless being Harpo), some nice mystery suspense and an unexpectedly sweet ending. The voice acting is good.

Overall, not one of Little Audrey's best cartoons and Disney's take on 'Who Killed Cock Robin' is the better one, but still very nicely done. 8/10 Bethany Cox