A Ardente Chapeuzinho Vermelho

This is another fine animated short from Tex Avery. This time he uses the fairy tale of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. After the characters have complained they always have to play the same story over and over again the story is changed completely. The wolf is a rich character who falls in love with Red. She doesn't want him because she has to go to her grandma. The wolf makes sure he gets there before Red does. Instead of a sick old woman he finds a mature lady who is attracted to the wolf. Of course hilarious moments is what we get.

This short has a nice story and the usual Tex Avery humor, including written messages. The short is not really suitable for children, it has some sexual references, but adults will like this very much. A very nice animated short.

I second the comments about this influential cartoon and its effect on the course of animation. But there's one question unanswered, and that's: Did this formula begun with this cartoon and continuing (with Avery, at least) to the end of the 1940's play a role, however indirectly, in the future development of Benny Hill's show after, say, 1980? If one sees the early Hill's Angels numbers, especially the juxtaposition of dancers gyrating and men's various reactions, one can see many similarities; alas, there was none of the relative subtlety and wit for which Avery was most famous. And interesting that both Avery and Hill have been targeted in later years for supposedly being "politically incorrect." Think about it . . .

Tex, sex, and Avery Rex!! The king of cartoons sends the 1943 censors a message..when the armed forces actually bypassed the Hays office to get an uncensored version of this one off to our troops overseas, they preserved one of the greatest works of art ever committed to celluloid..and allowed resonances to echo into such disparate results as Jessica Rabbit, Cool World, and Ren and Stimpy. For the record, the plot is simple..the old fairy tale is worn out, and needs some new blood..the wolf is now really a wolf, and Red has more than goodies in her basket..now, go and watch this one three hundred times, and you'll see almost all the little jokes lovingly crafted into it..

The inclusion of Red Hot Riding Hood in Tex Avery's animated short film, along with her earlier appearance in Little Rural Riding Hood, has truly impressed me with this bold and alluring cartoon character. One of Avery's finest creations and a significant breakthrough in animation, it is celebrated as his legendary masterpiece in the world of animation.

The story begins with a standard Little Red Riding Hood story, but the characters rebel against the standard staging and demand a fresh approach. Now set in a contemporary urban setting, Red is a sexy adult nightclub entertainer, while Wolf is a debonair skirt chaser in love with Red. Red escapes Wolf, but his oversexed grandmother locks him in her apartment, chasing after him at every door.

Unlike my beloved cartoon character, Betty Boop, who embodied a charmingly innocent demeanor, Red personified pure sensuality, primarily serving the purpose of arousing the wolf (symbolizing males in general) into an intense state of desire. Red briefly introduced herself as a seductive distraction for the Wolf character, who had already appeared in the WWII cartoon "Blitz Wolf" and was obsessed with getting some action. She drove the sex-crazed wolf to do all the things that were to become trademarks of Avery's cartoons: the eye-popping, the jaw-dropping, and the gravity-deifying pratfalls. She gained such widespread popularity that she appeared in three more animated series. Her cartoons were originally entertaining to American soldiers during wartime but remained off television for a long time due to their explicit nature.

Actually, my comment for this should truly be a simple verbal genuflection, but that wouldn't be of acceptable minimum length here, so I'll actually say something.

This is Tex Avery's masterpiece in terms of the relation of his work to animation in general and the short form in specific. There are better cartoons (some even by Avery himself) and there are cartoons that I personally like better, but in terms of what Avery was attempting to do with the form, in terms of what animation was at the time and had been in the past and what its potential was for the future and the impact that Avery had and would have on his artform, this is the first truly successful Avery cartoon on all terms, both Avery's and animation. Avery blew out the valves, cranked up the engine and blew the doors off on this one for the first (but not last) time here. He turned everything up a few notches here, gang, and it works! It worked then, it works now and will work tomorrow, precisely because Avery had that most overworked and little understood word-genius. Remarkable cartoon and if you like animation and haven't seen this one, what are you reading me for? Go watch this. This is a great piece of work. Need I add, most highly recommended?