The Bride Wore Stripes

While considering 'Ducktales' one of my personal favourites, that is not to say that every episode is great or even good. Actually was disappointed by some of the later episodes, where the animation quality wasn't as good, there was too much focus on less interesting characters, the writing and storytelling weren't as strong and the regular characters weren't as appealing. That the show is still a favourite is down to that the show has so many brilliant things and on the strength of early episodes being so good.

"The Bride Wore Stripes" sadly is one of the disappointments, a shame considering Ma Beagle has shown more than once that she is a lot of fun as a character when the material is good. It is not an unwatchable episode, don't consider any of the lesser 'Ducktales' episodes that, a category though that "The Bride Wore Stripes" alas leans more towards. It is a far cry however from when 'Ducktales' was at its best, with not enough of what made the best of Season 1 especially so good.

Of course there are good things, every 'Ducktales' has them. The animation is generally bright and colourful with nicely detailed backgrounds. As always, the music is dynamic with the action and beautifully and characterfully orchestrated. The theme tune is infectious and deserves its reputation as one of the best and catchiest Disney theme tunes and in animation. All the voice actors do a good job with what they are given.

Some parts amuse. Namely Burger's poem recitation and the flowering and deflowering of Scrooge's plan. "The Bride Wore Stripes" showed promise at the beginning, with a very fun rant from Ma Beagle that was the most and only successful attempt at envelope pushing/subversiveness. The nephews are certainly more likeable than in "Bubba's Big Brainstorm" and "Yuppy Ducks", they have moments of brattiness but show a lot of good intentions too that they did not show in those two episodes.

Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. The premise was weird in the first place and the execution was just dumb and too under-cooked. It would have worked if done in a darkly humorous fashion but a big opportunity was missed in this regard. The episode plays it far too safe and the dumbness, lack of freshness and the mean-spiritedness gets in the way badly. In terms of the mean-spiritedness, Scrooge's whole plan is one of the prime examples and the biggest example of an opportunity missed to approach the material in a subversive way. Most of the gags are over-familiar and repetitive, the dialogue also lacking wit. Did find the pace rather draggy too often, especially in the first portion beyond the aforementioned rant.

It, the episode that is, attempts a major revelation. But sadly it is a major revelation that is just not buyable, with the episode having not focused enough on what the revelation centres around, which makes it feel very out of the blue when revealed. The Beagle family were in previous episodes awesome characters, though not all the show's stories played to their strengths. Here sadly they are not served well. The boys have never been so or this grating, their childishness taken too far. Despite initial promise, Ma Beagle never was this dumb. Also found "The Bride Wore Stripes" too heavy handed, everything with Ma Beagle is repeatedly reiterated with sledge-hammer-like unsubtlety. Lets not get started on the portrayal of the city's judicial system's incompetence.

Overall, not bad but disappointing. 5/10