Toulouse La Trick

The famous criminal, "Toulouse La Moose." has escaped to Cherbourg after jumping bail He is apprehended there and the Inspector is given the assignment to bring him back to Paris. Our hero handcuffs the big crook, thinking that will stop him from getting loose again.

Wrong.

After a mishap on "The Orient Express," what ensues is a long scene in which the big, strong thief literally drags the Inspector around the countryside and the two of them wind up getting more than their share of lumps in humorous ways as they strive to free themselves from the handcuffs.

This was another good one, three in a row in this set. It's on the DVD "The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6 - Inspector Cartoons." Note: It was the first Inspector cartoon in which there was no "Deux-Deux."

Once again, I enjoyed the artwork in here as we followed these two guys through streets, trains and haystacks. The episode ended with a great pun, too!

. . . to any upright American's face, as it is named for a French "artist" who specialized in portraying undressed Parisian harlots, strumpets and street gals at work. When filmmakers set out to make a series of three dozen shorts set in the notorious nether regions of the Gallic swamp, it is more than likely to focus on the seamy and unseemly depraved depths of humanity's dirtiest dregs. These coffee grounds of the World Social Order are safely tolerated by only the strongest of stomachs, as is the case with so-called "French Cuisine." Few of us are able to keep down anything lathered with "French Dressing," let alone all those sauces of even more questionable origin.

Although the Inspector series is not a consistent one, it has been generally very worthwhile re-watching them after many years. Had fond memories watching them as a child, and as someone who likes a lot of the Pink Panther cartoons a friend told me to re-watch the similar in style Inspector cartoons to help decrease my stress levels. They are even better as a young adult, due to understanding the humour more.

'Toulouse La Trick' is somewhere in the high middle ranking the Inspector series, another cartoon that is neither among the best or worst. It is the first The Inspector cartoon to not feature the scene-stealing Sergeant Deux-Deux, he, his beautifully contrasted personalities and chemistry with the Inspector are very much missed. That doesn't spoil 'Toulouse La Trick' though, because the titular character (Toulouse Le Moose) is one of the series' strangest and most entertaining adversaries and the chemistry between him and the Inspector plays a major part in why the cartoon works as well as it does. It was important for it to work, if it didn't it would have ruined the cartoon single-handedly, the chemistry here has enough energy and tension.

Did think that the countryside sequence went on for too long, which seemed to pad out a cartoon with a pretty thin and formulaic story.

On the other hand, there is a lot to like. Have no qualms with the animation. Actually think that it is one of the more visually interesting The Inspector cartoons. The sceneries are beautifully rendered, Fairly simple in terms of drawing but never ugly, while the somewhat abstract backgrounds have nice attention to detail, more so than the Pink Panther cartoons (not a knock at all on the animation of that series), and don't look sparse. But it is the deep and rich colours that stand out in this regard. Like the jazzy slinkiness of the music, it fits and it doesn't sound cheap.

Furthermore, the physical comedy is nicely timed and never comes over as vulgar or tired, through adult eyes all the humour is fresher and understood it more. The verbal humour is suitably ironic with some amusing mumblings and subtle word-play. Classic The Inspector. Pat Harrington Jr does wonderfully in providing the necessary energy in his voice work and do have to agree that a big highlight is the hilarious ending.

Altogether, very enjoyable. 8/10