No Mundo da Carochinha

Although never received well critically, this is a truly beautifully animated movie. This film, made at the outbreak of WW2 was one of the first 5 full length animated films ever made, and displays superb animation. Excellent too is the way human castoffs are used by the insects. Unfortunately the character of the principal villain is weak and two dimensional, and the story suffers as a result. The songs, however, are among the best I can recall in any animated film, and "Castle in the air" has to be one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately Max Fleisher was not as independent as Walt Disney, and as a result was never given an opportunity by Paramount to make another animated feature. However, the two that Fleisher was able to release will continue entertaining us for generations to come.

I have never read a review of this film that doesn't dump on it to some extent for not being Disney, or not being modern, or what have you. Like Rodney Dangerfield, this piece never did "get no respect." I understand that the date of its premiere was December 7, 1941! Needless to say, people in this country had other things on their minds. Having just found a used laserdisc of it, I viewed it for the first time since seeing it on television as a kid, and for anyone who fondly remembers seeing it like that, it's a powerful shot of nostalgia. While appropriately cartoonish, the drawing and animation is satisfyingly rooted in the real, physical world enough to make the figures and backgrounds come alive. So many of the "animation festival" pieces you see seem to be drawn by left handed gorillas, and the characters are rendered as formless blobs. But the glowing color palette, and the fine drawing and animation of "Hoppity" is a real treat to the eye. A very good-looking film. Moreover, it is just full of period charm (something which can be appreciated even by people like me, who were not around during that time). The characters, even the villains, are just so damn cute, and I should think anyone with an affinity for the earlier Disney animation (e.g. pre-World War II) would get a kick out of it. If you remember it fondly from years past, as I did, its a special treat. I just wanted to put in a few more nice words about this sweet, simple relic of the past.

This film used to play occasionally on daytime TV when I was a child. I must have seen it at least three times. Made by the same team (Gordon and Fleischer) that brought us "Gulliver's Travels", it's a charming little movie with a plot very similar to the later Pixar film "A Bug's Life." I remember first learning the name Hoagy Carmichael when I read the credits as an eight-year-old (my mother was astonished to know that I had heard of him.) If "Hoppitty" were ever released on DVD I would buy it in a heartbeat. I don't know anyone else who has ever seen it, though, which necessarily limits the amount of outcry over this deep injustice to a great little movie.

The version I saw was titled "Bugville", from a 1989 Legend DVD release (I Think--it has a sloppily prepared title card and matches the Wikipedia description, and the promo video TCM has is of the beginning of MBGtT is an exact match, excepting the title card).

OK Fleischer/Paramount animated feature (Fleischer made the animated 1939 "Gulliver's Travels) about bugs endangered by man has a listenable score by Frank Loesser, very good opening and closing sequences, and a good nightclub scene (watch for the Jitterbug). Film has too many lulls between the interesting scenes, and in general is cloyingly sweet. Film is a disappointment.

This is the one that was released two days before Pearl Harbor. Thanks at least partially to bad timing, film was a financial disaster. Film is hard to find, so is worth a watch. Just have a pot of coffee close by.

Leslie Carbaga's excellent book on the Fleishers tells the whole story of the Fleischer's big move of their entire animation unit to Florida, and their subsequent ejection by Paramount.

Mr. Bug Goes to Town didn't destroy the animation pioneers' credit with Paramount, although it's often told that way, and this was Paramount's favorite version of the story. According to Carbaga, the big studio, more than anything, wanted to get their mitts on the animation studio and ease the famously bickering brothers out of the picture altogether. Mr. Bug provided them the pretext to do just that. --The sad closing of a great quirky, innovative chapter in American animation.

I wanted to comment, also, that the film actually debuted December 4, 1941, not December 7. That may have been close enough to do the trick, anyway, in terms of national mood damaging the film's success. But another part of the legend of this troubled little film is that it was killed by having the bad luck to be in the theaters at the same time Dumbo (released October 23, 1941) was still doing very brisk holiday business. I haven't done the research into box office numbers, but I'd say that Dumbo's concurrent presence in theaters likely had an impact on Mr. Bug. Movie-going was at an all time high at this period, and successful films could go strong in theaters for months. -- Something unimaginable in these typically short-run, quick to-DVD days.