[TV SHOW REVIEW] The Bremen Town Musicians (1993)

 

OR

Title: The Bremen Town Musicians

Starring: Bob Hoskins

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Germany / Animals / Fairy Tale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: John McCally

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

The story starts off with a donkey who has become so old that he can't do anymore work on the farm.  Because of this, the farmer decided to kill the donkey and when the donkey finds this out, he decided to run away from the farm and go out to the town of Bremen to start a musical band. Along the way, the donkey meets up with a dog, a cat and a rooster, who are all also running away from home and they all decided to form a band together.  But along the way, the four friends ended up coming to a den of robbers and they decided to try to sing to them in order to not be killed by them.

So, I've been familiar with the fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" for years now and I was surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions actually made their own version of this classic fairy tale.  I really enjoyed the late Bob Hoskins' narration for this story.  To be honest, when I was younger, I only knew Bob Hoskins through "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and there, he was able to pull off a fantastic American accent.  It was only when I watched "The Bremen Town Musicians" that I realized that Bob Hoskins is actually British.  Anyway, Bob Hoskins did a fantastic job at sounding so energetic with the characters, especially with the cocky rooster.  Another thing that I liked about this story was the music by Eugene Friesen. The music was very well done and I loved how kooky yet catchy the music sounds.  I also really enjoyed the story as it's rare to read a story about a bunch of animals trying to form a band together.

My only issue with this story was the artwork.  While I enjoyed David Johnson's artwork in other Rabbit Ears stories like "Thumbelina" and "The Boy Who Drew Cats," I felt that the artwork here was a bit too out of place with this story.  The artwork looked a bit too weird, what with the characters having cartoonish mismatched eyes on realistic bodies and that always made me feel a bit disturbed when watching this story.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the story, this was such an enjoyable story to watch and anyone who is a huge fan of the Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" will definitely enjoy this one!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

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[TV SHOW REVIEW] Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby (1990)

 

OR

Title: Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

Starring: Danny Glover

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / African American / Folktale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: Tim Raglin

Year: 1990

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

Brer Rabbit was known as the sassiest critter around the woods and because of this, Brer Rabbit always got one over Brer Fox.  Brer Fox got so sick of this, that he decided to create a Tar Baby that he will use to trap Brer Rabbit and eat him.  Now, Brer Rabbit has to find a way to get out of the Tar Baby trap to escape Brer Fox's hungry clutches!

So, I was actually familiar with the "Brer Rabbit" tales as a little kid and one of the Brer Rabbit stories that I used to watch a lot as a kid, besides "Brer Rabbit and Boss Lion," was "Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby." I was actually surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions had actually made their own version of the famous Tar Baby story and I actually had a pretty fun time with this version!  The story was pretty hilarious and intense as I really enjoyed the crazy antics that Brer Rabbit gets into throughout this story and the scenes with Brer Fox were pretty intense, especially with him trying to eat Brer Rabbit. Danny Glover's energetic and relaxing narration was definitely the highlight of this story for me as Danny Glover made the story come to life in the most intriguing way possible and I especially loved how Danny Glover provided the voices for both Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox as he made Brer Fox sound so deep and threatening throughout the story, while with Brer Rabbit, he made him sound high pitched and energetic throughout the story, that strongly contrasts with Brer Fox's more menacing portrayal.  I also loved Taj Mahal's music as the music sounded so relaxing and fits so well with the somewhat calm nature of this story.

My only issue with this story is the artwork.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm a huge fan of Henrik Drescher's artwork and I especially loved his artwork in the other Rabbit Ears story called "The Fool and the Flying Ship."  However, due to the more calming nature of this story, the chaotic artwork clashes heavily with the mood of this story and they often distracted me from the story, as well as creep me out a bit.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the calming nature of the story, Danny Glover's narration and Taj Mahal's music all come together to create a truly unique and soothing tale!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Too Many Cooks

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[SHORTS REVIEW] Too Many Cooks (2014)

 

OR

Title: Too Many Cooks

Genre: Horror / Surrealism / Fantasy / Comedy

Company: Adult Swim

Directed by: Casper Kelly

Year: 2014

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: TV MA

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE! 

So, the short introduces the Cook Family and the short basically started out as a spoof on the sitcoms of the 1980s and the 1990s.  But as the short goes on, it turns out that a certain serial killer has entered the show and he starts turning everything upside down...

So, when I heard about this short through Adult Swim, I was wondering about why everyone was talking about this short and why this short went viral on YouTube.  So, I finally checked out this short and man, was this short awesome and crazy!  What I loved so much about this short was how it subverted your expectations.  When the short first started, it was basically an affectionate parody of the sitcoms from the 1980s and the 1990s.  But as the short goes on, it suddenly turns into a surreal short full of horror elements, especially once the serial killer enters the scene.  Also, I loved how the short takes it time to build up the horror elements throughout the short and really made the tension in the story quite intense. Another thing that I liked about this short was the music.  The music essentially replays the theme song "Too Many Cooks" over and over again throughout the short.  Even though this would be something that would annoy many people, the repeating music actually helped made this short really stand out as the narrative is dictated by the theme song.  While the theme song sounds very catchy and lighthearted, it actually becomes much more disturbing once the theme song starts playing throughout the more morbid scenes of this short.

My only minor issue with this short is that it can be a bit confusing to understand, due to the short not really going into details about the characters' backstories.  Now, I understand that this short is not meant to be something deep (at least, on the surface).  But, I can't help but be curious about the backstories of these characters, especially of the killer.  I actually had to look up information about the killer in order to understand his character a bit more.

Overall, "Too Many Cooks" is easily one of the best Adult Swim shorts I had ever seen!  The fact that this short managed to subvert your expectations in such an intriguing and frightening way really made this a treat to watch!  I highly recommend this short if you are a fan of shorts that have unexpected plot twists and catchy theme songs!

• Face Like a Frog
• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions
• Quasi at the Quackadero

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[SURREAL REQUEST HOLE] [SHORTS REVIEW] Face Like a Frog (1987)

 

OR

Title: Face Like a Frog

Genre: Horror / Surrealism / Fantasy

Company: N/A

Directed by: Sally Cruikshank

Year: 1987

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

*This short was requested by Nova Softlock Circus.  If you would like to suggest a weird movie / TV show / short for me to review, then please leave your suggestions on the Surreal Request Hole page. *

The short is about a female frog asking for the help of a male frog, who just so happens to drive up to the mansion at that time and the female frog wants the male frog to help her deal with the haunted mansion.  Unfortunately, it turns out that the mansion has a lot of terrifying things that the male frog is not prepared for.

So, it's been awhile since I last reviewed anything on this blog.  So, I just recently saw this bizarre little short called "Face Like a Frog" and man, was this short such a wild ride!  I had previously reviewed Sally Cruikshank's other short film Quasi at the Quackadero and that short was just as weird as this short.  However, I do think that "Face Like a Frog" might have beaten "Quasi at the Quackadero" in terms of weirdness.  The first thing that I liked about this film was the animation.  The animation in this film was truly unique as everything, from the characters to the environment that they are in, is constantly moving around and it gives the short a truly bizarre and unique feel.  Another thing that I liked about this short was the music.  I was quite surprised when I found out that Danny Elfman provided the music for this short and the music did a good job at giving this short a bizarre yet creepy feel to it.  I especially loved the song "Don't Go Into the Basement" as it was extremely catchy and I loved the bizarre animation being shown during that scene.

My main problem with this short was that everything moved a bit too fast for me.  Since this short was only 5 minutes long, the characters weren't fully developed and the situation with the two frogs and the haunted mansion went by too quickly. I would have liked it if the short was a bit longer and allowed more room for the characters to be developed, as well as having more adventures between the two frog characters.

Overall, "Face Like a Frog" is a great short that brilliantly shows how to use weird animation to its fullest and it is a nice little short to watch for the Halloween season!  I definitely can't wait to watch more of Sally Cruikshank's works in the near future!

• Quasi at the Quackadero
• Closed Mondays
• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimension

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