Rookie Revue

Rookie Revue (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fun natured animated short gives us a look of what life is like in the Army. This includes the morning wake-up call, roll call, mess hall and various other things you will be doing if you join.

This short isn't meant to be taken serious and instead was probably aimed at children to show what their brothers, parents or whoever else was doing in the Army. Everything here is done in a comical way and while nothing is overly funny there's at least a good amount of imagination being used including the mess hall sequence where people eat in a style depending on what their job is in the Army. There's another aerial sequence that is quite good as well. Again, there's nothing ground-breaking here but this is pleasant enough.

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. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.

'Rookie Revue' is not one of Friz Freleng's, a director who did many great cartoons and a director held in high admiration by me, best, not being one of his funniest, wittiest or freshest. For relatively early Freleng, 'Rookie Revue' is well above average though he would do much better later. It is never what one would call properly hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story is flimsy.

It is quite thin in terms of story and the structure is basically an excuse to string them along.

However, the characters are all fun and with enough distinct personality, if lacking a discernible lead character.

The cartoon has a number of very amusing moments, there are frequent signs of variety, wit and invention and there is a good deal of liveliness.

Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The music is lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Voice acting is terrific, with Robert C Bruce providing snappy narration and Mel Blanc again showing a remarkable and unmatched ability to give individuality to multiple characters.

In conclusion, decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Looney Tunes in service of war effort. That is all. Old gags, old irony, crazy/ absurd situations and the great end. Nothing new but seductive. And, in essence, this is the fair purpose.

In 1941, Hollywood could see that sooner or later the US would become involved in WWII. So, to bolster the war effort, the studios made many military comedies such as "Buck Privates", "Caught in the Draft" and "Tanks a Million". "Rookie Revue" is a cartoon comedy cashing in on the same craze.

Like many earlier Looney Tunes cartoons, the style of "Rookie Revue" is like a documentary, with narration and MANY jokes that make you groan. Yes, the jokes are pretty lame...and the final remark "I'm a bad general" is a play on Lou Costello's "I'm a bad boy" phrase which he so frequently used.

This is another take on the military by the animation industry. It's 1941 and the U.S. is just in the war. It is deadly serious, so parody is a way to take the edge off. Here we see all aspects of fighting men (no women that I noticed) doing their day to day things, facing the demons of war (like not enough sleep). It works OK but certainly nothing very original about it.