Mr. Frog Went A-Courting

This short was shown in between children's programs when i was very young,(late eighties) i always loved it, i came upon the description of it when searching for something else completely, its so weird i totally remember what it looked like and the music "mr. frog went a courting and he did ride mm-hmmm mm-hmmm!" i always hated the part when miss.mouses' father tells her to stay away from the frog. :)

I remember seeing this, back when I was a kid in the 80's. I liked it, but always found it to be a LITTLE scary, but now.....I think it's just disturbing, yet, at the same time, so fascinating! Over the years, I'd forgotten all about it, until I unexpectedly came across it on YouTube the other day. Nonetheless, it's still a classic, and a cherished childhood memory of mine. Can't remember if it aired on CBC, along with other classics, such as Black Fly and Log Driver's Waltz. ( 2 of my MOST FAVORITE shorts) I remember hearing other versions of the song, over the years, some not as dark and morbid as this one, though. No matter how creepy it was, or how disturbed I was, it's STILL a wonderful childhood memory. : )

Wow, could this film create traumas in young kids!! While I do truly appreciate the film's artistry, it is one of the creepiest and least kid-friendly cartoons I've seen in some time and I don't recommend it for very young kids. Why so creepy? Well, the main characters (Froggy and Miss Mousy) just look amazingly bizarre and the way they move is enough to make kids change the TV channel or hide their eyes! But, to make things much worse, at the end, all of the guests at the wedding of our two beloved but creepy characters are eaten!! Talk about inducing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in kids!!

Now as for the artistry, the film is very creative and interesting. Pictures of the characters were cut out and the limbs were cut off as well. To make the illusion of movement, the pieces were moved by using stop-motion filming and the creatures appeared to move about the screen. In some ways, it's like the old Terry Gilliam animations from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" but done in a more crude manner. I can respect it, but sure can't understand it's storyline or creepy factor. If you want to traumatize little kids and this doesn't do the trick, try some of the work of Jan Svankmajer---especially his version of Alice in Wonderland!