Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna and Barbera and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more now through young adult eyes, thanks to broader knowledge and taste and more interest in animation styles and various studios and directors.
Have a lot of appreciation and admiration for Bob Clampett, with a visual and humour style so distinctive and easily recognisable. His early work was very variable but when on top form and in his prime the best of his work was great and even more. 'Porky's Naughty Nephew' is not one of Clampett's best by any stretch. It is a decent cartoon though, even if there are funnier, wittier and fresher cartoons from him, and did see some of Clampett's unique style all over it and being at ease with the material.
While not quite one of my favourite Looney Tunes characters (prefer those with consistently stronger, funnier and interesting personalities) Porky has always been very easy to like. 'Porky's Naughty Nephew' is another example of being a good representation of them both, if not among the best efforts of either.
Porky is likeable and not too underused, though he doesn't have the strongest of material and is slightly bland. It is slight and predictable at times, outcomes are not hard to figure out.
Regarding the characters, Pinky steals the show, he is a brat and one of the most brutal ones in Looney Tunes history (perhaps even animation) but he is also hilarious and not a hard character to forget.
By Clampett standards, 'Porky's Naughty Nephew' is one of his most anarchic and wackiest late 1930s cartoons, if not him at his most imaginative or funniest. This is meant in a good way, this was his style which didn't always come through enough in his early pre-peak cartoons but 'Porky's Naughty Nephew' showed that he had it in him early on.
Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it here. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor. Bernice Hansen is also excellent.
Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail, plus it is very imaginative. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.
Even though violent and brutal as heck, 'Porky's Naughty Nephew' is lightning-speed energetic that one at times forgets the slightness and predictability of the story, and is also incredibly inventively timed and hilarious. The funniest and most interesting material comes from Pinky by far.
In conclusion, brutal but incredibly well made and so much fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox
