Educated Fish

This was nominated for the Academy Award for Cartoon when it was released, which is a tad puzzling, since the only truly noteworthy feature here is the visual effects, which was true of most of the Fliescher Studio efforts. Given that other Flieschers released around the same time frame were as visually nice and were more effectively executed in other regards, it is somewhat surprising that this got a nomination. Part of the Color Classics series, this is an entertaining but quite predictable little short. It is available on the Somewhere In Dreamland DVD set, which is most definitely worth getting, as it is quite well done. Worth watching and recommended.

At his underwater school of "A B Sea", a young fish is having a bit of a tantrum. His no-nonsense teacher drags him into class but he's still being a pain so she locks him in the store cupboard to learn his lessons. Immediately spotting a window, out he swims for an exploration. It's when he spots a worm that things get a bit precarious. The worm is a lure - next thing he is on the end of a fisherman's line; in his boat - can he escape? Maybe being in school isn't such a bad thing after all? It's quite an entertaining little animation this but sadly nothing new either in style or message. It's still worth seven minutes of your time - it doesn't hang about.

Dave Fleischer's Academy Award-nominated "Educated Fish" is a routine animated short. I guess that a lot of Depression-era cartoons simply tried to teach moral lessons, although they usually took a milquetoast approach to it. The Fleischer cartoons were no match for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series (1937 was in fact the year that "Porky's Duck Hunt" introduced a certain lisping mallard). As it stands, this cartoon comes across more as a relic. Maybe worth seeing if you happen to have time, but don't go out of your way to see it.

one of short films preserving the flavor of lost age of animation.seductive for simple message, for songs and for the small carpenter shark in fight against pepper. the experience as the best teacher is the most important message. and this is, maybe, the real best part of "Educated Fish" who, at first sigh, could be , only a dusty film from a far past.

Educated Fish is another enjoyable Fleischer cartoon. Not one of the best, it does get a bit too cutesy(not unusual for Fleischer though) and the story is predictable. I also wasn't crazy about the title song this time round, rather shrilly sung and other Fleischer cartoons have much more memorable title songs(not melodically, this is in terms of lyrics, those for Dancing on Moon, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Christmas Comes But Once a Year are immediately catchy, here not so much).

As with all Fleischer cartoons, Educated Fish is beautifully animated with lush colours, imaginative and detailed backgrounds and non-stiff character designs. There are no technical innovations here(like the rotograph and animated characters on live backgrounds techniques), not like in Christmas Comes But Once a Year, Somewhere in Dreamland, Dancing on the Moon, The Cobweb Hotel and Little Dutch Mill but that's hardly a bad thing at all, not every Fleischer cartoon has to be technically ahead of their time to be good. The title song aside, the music is charmingly orchestrated and lively and the gags, especially the swordfish sawing the desk and the teacher getting caught on the string of the board, are amusing. The last two minutes or so did have a fair bit of suspense too. The characters are cute and engaging, the main character and the teacher being the most memorable(love the sexy worm as well) as long as you don't expect them to be fully developed as the cartoon is only 7 1/2 minutes.

Overall, not a classic and Fleischer has done better than this, but Educated Fish is still enjoyable. 7/10 Bethany Cox