Misturada Louca

Too busy reading his grocery list, poor old "Sam" and his dog "Rover" get hit by a car whilst crossing the road. I'm not sure plasma was on their list but some quick action by the medics appears to have muddled it up and so now the dog has human traits and "Sam" goes around on all fours burying bones in the garden and yapping like a maniac. "Maggie" can't make sense of this changed dynamic, especially when "Rover" refuses to eat his tinned dinner from a bowl. The role reversal aspect works quite well here and at the conclusion you don't know whether to feel more sorry for the cat hiding up the tree or the wife - well until she and her poodle meet a similar fate whilst trying to escape the madness. It's got a lively score from Clarence Wheeler and moves along quickly and quite entertainingly.

This is simply the greatest Tex Avery short animated film I know. And I believe to have seen almost all of them. This is as simple as it sounds: blood transfusion goes wrong, man had dog blood and dog has man blood. The dog acts like his owner, patting the woman's head, the man acts like a dog, chasing birds around and bringing the slippers to his dog. If you analyze the film-making, you can easily realize how much efforts Tex Avery was putting in trying to make his audience laugh every 10 seconds or so. I cannot think of a sequence that isn't funny. The animated sequences of each person's face whenever they are bewildered at the occurrences are simply amazing: very often have I felt bewildered and immediately thought about this sequence, expecting my hairpiece to turn on itself, clock-like cuckoos to pop out of my mouth... The rendering of bewilderment has never been equaled after this. Up to its last plot twist , this film is hilarious. According to me, this cartoon is one of Tex's funniest, and also one of his wackiest.

This short, nominated for an Oscar, is pretty typical of Avery, with one small difference-where he typically started with a rather mundane normal situation and then twisted it in insane ways, here he starts with an absurdity (the infusion of dog plasma into a man and vice versa) and THEN twists it in insane ways! A hilariously funny cartoon and the ending is perfect. Highly Recommended.

. . . over itself to find out who ACTUALLY wrote the 1965 novel THE PAINTED BIRD, originally published under the name Jersey Cold-Shin-Ski. What twisted, warped imp of the perverse could have contrived the implausible canine and human interactions serving as THE PAINTED BIRD's cornerstone, and what led infamous plagiarist Jersey to think that America would lap up such filth? It turns out that Mr. Cold-Shin-Ski, being functionally illiterate in English when THE PAINTED BIRD was released, did what many outsiders do when when seeking the most outrageous, unnatural, illicit material possible: He turned to Texas--specifically, CRAZY MIXED UP PUP. Though Jersey's paltry imagination pales in comparison to the bizarre doodles of Mr. Avery, it is always rewarding to clear up a decades-old literary mystery.

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.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'Crazy Mixed Up Pup' may not be one of his very best, only because his masterpieces were so many, more so than most other animation directors. Occasionally, limitations show in some of the backgrounds (in comparison to his cartoons from the 40s), certainly a long way from awful but lacks the imagination and fluidity of his best cartoons. As said many times, when Avery was not at his best he still fared much better than most other animation directors at their worst, some can only dream of having their best work on the same level as the masterpieces from Avery.

Have not seen all Avery's work, though that's my goal as of now, but as of now have yet to see anything "bad" from him, even if there are perhaps a few very early efforts that are not at his usual top standard.

Some limited backgrounds and some unrefined drawing aside, there are some colourful and expressive moments in the animation. Clarence Wheeler is no Scott Bradley, but his music scoring proves him to be a more than worthy replacement. It's lively, lush and fits very well, if not quite action-enhancing as with Bradley.

'Crazy Mixed Up Pup' is one of those cartoons that is very funny, with plenty of clever, imaginatively timed gags that really deliver on the humour and makes the most of a very clever and brilliantly constructed story that is pure insanity and deliciously so. Nobody does insanity like Tex Avery.

Avery does wonderfully with the direction as always.

In summation, excellent cartoon if not quite one of Avery's very best. 9/10 Bethany Cox