[SHORTS REVIEW] The Kitchen Casanova (1996)

 

OR

Title: The Kitchen Casanova

Starring: Carlos Alazraqui, Mary Kay Bergman and Frank Welker

Genre: Romance / Comedy

Company: Hanna Barbera Productions

Directed by: John McIntyre

Year: 1996

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

Being part of Cartoon Network's "The What-A-Cartoon Show," the short starts off with a man named Casanova, who is trying to prepare a delicious meal for his girlfriend, Doris.  Once Doris arrives at his house, Casanova continues preparing the meal for her. But unfortunately, things start to go haywire when Casanova starts reading his cookbook wrong, as a gust of wind comes in and keeps switching the pages to strange recipes (like porcupine pie) and Casanova ends up putting all of the strange ingredients together into one dish.  Once Casanova finally prepares the dish, he and Doris will get the surprise of their lives once they see what the dish actually looks like!

So, I actually seen this animated short when I was a child (although I don't quite remember how I was able to watch this cartoon as a kid, as I didn't have Cartoon Network, until 1998).  But all I ever remembered from this short was the ending.  It wouldn't be until I rediscovered this short on YouTube that I finally found out what this short was and man, was this one of the craziest animated shorts that I have ever seen!  What I really liked about this short was the premise.  Sure, this short is mostly about a man trying to impress his girlfriend by making her a delicious meal, but the way that this short went about that premise was done in such an insane and twisted way and I really loved how twisted the short got at times.  Like, there is one scene in the short where Casanova accidentally chops off his finger when he was preparing the meal and you can see blood spurting out of the wound. I will admit that I was shocked when I first saw this scene, since it's rare for children's shows show any blood (let alone showing a character's limb get cut off in graphic detail) and I was even more shocked that this short got banned because of that scene (although that might explain why I didn't see this short come on TV that often after I watched this short the first time as a child).  Another thing that I liked about this short was the animation.  The animation reminded me of the line boil style of animation that was found in shows like "Ed, Edd n Eddy" and it lent itself well to the crazy plot of this short.

The only issue with this short is that there is some gross humor and the dark humor can be a bit much for some people.  I have mentioned before that Casanova's finger gets chopped off in a graphic way in this short, which is surprising for a children's show and that could turn off some people from this short.  Also, how Casanova's meal turned out at the end of the short is pretty gross and I will admit that I was very grossed out by the meal in the end (although it was clearly accidental on Casanova's part).

Overall, I really enjoyed watching "The Kitchen Casanova!"  While I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the gross out humor, I really loved the twisted nature of this animated short and it's a short that I will definitely rewatch for many years!

• Pop
• AH, HE'S SICK!
• The Dirdy Birdy

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[SHORTS REVIEW] The Dirdy Birdy (1994)

 

OR

Title: The Dirdy Birdy

Genre: Romance / Comedy

Company: Stretch Films

Directed by: John R. Dilworth   

Year: 1994 (2014 - Redux)

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

The short is about an idiotic bird named Purdy who is in love with a blue cat named Fergurina and Purdy spends most of the short trying to get Fergurina's affections.  Unfortunately, the way that Purdy tries to attract Fergurina is by showing off his naked backside to her and of course, this disgusts Fergurina so much that she is constantly beating up Purdy throughout the short.

So, I was actually surprised that John R. Dilworth had actually made animations throughout the early half of the 1990s, since the only animation of John R. Dilworth's that I was aware of was "Courage the Cowardly Dog."  So, imagine my surprise when I discovered this hilarious short that came from the early 1990s called "The Dirdy Birdy!" "The Dirdy Birdy" was quite an unusual animated short as the whole premise of the short is about a dimwitted bird who shows his affections to a cat...by mooning her! At first, I wasn't on board with this short, due to the premise being about a bird mooning a cat.  But after I watched this short, I started to fall in love with the clever humor and animation of this short!  I just loved the moments where Fergurina beats up Purdy every time Purdy moons her, as the many different ways that Fergurina beats up Purdy were hilarious to watch.  I also loved the crazy animation of this short as both Purdy and Fergurina display crazy feats throughout this short, like Purdy pulling out his own heart to show Fergurina or Fergurina beating up the Grim Reaper when the Grim Reaper tried to take Purdy away.  Another thing that I liked about this short was the music.  The soundtrack is pretty catchy and goofy to listen to, and I loved the song "The Big Laugh" by Jurgen Schlachter that plays throughout the short as it's very catchy and goofy and fits so well with the tone of this short.

The only problem that I have with this short was the gross humor.  Thankfully, there isn't that much gross humor in this short.  But the scenes of Purdy constantly mooning Fergurina were a bit too much for me to handle at times.

Overall, "The Dirdy Birdy" is a pretty entertaining short to watch!  While I wasn't the biggest fan of the gross out humor, the humor and the crazy animation all combined to create one of the most hilarious shorts I have ever seen!

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• Pop
• Face Like a Frog
• Loves Me, Loves Me Not

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[SHORTS REVIEW] Loves Me, Loves Me Not (1992)

 

OR

Title: Loves Me, Loves Me Not

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Surrealism / Drama

Company: Aardman Animations

Directed by: Jeff Newitt  

Year: 1992

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

The short starts off with a narcissistic man who is admiring himself in the mirror, when he suddenly sees a flower in the ground.  The man picks up the flower and starts picking off the flower's petals one by one.  Each time the man picks off a flower petal, something happens to him.  Like, every time he picks a flower petal stating, "Loves Me," then good things happen to him.  But whenever he picks off a flower petal stating, "Loves Me Not," then bad things happen to him.

I've been watching a lot of Aardman Animation's older animated shorts and after watching POP, I just had to watch some more of Aardman Animation's older animated shorts and "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" just happened to be the latest short I've seen.  "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" was quite an unusual ride for me, as it's one of the few animated shorts that I've seen that actually dealt with the consequences of being too narcissistic and it does it in a very creative and strange way.  I loved the fact that every time the man in the short picks off a flower petal, something happens to him, depending on if he says, "Loves Me" or "Loves Me Not." I found it really interesting that every time the man picks off a flower petal and says, "Loves Me," good things happen to him, like a dozen lips flying towards him to kiss him or he turns into a cupid like angel.  But when he picks off a flower petal and says, "Loves Me Not," horrible things happen to him like a rain cloud suddenly comes over him or he's trapped on a island that's surrounded by sharks.  These moments greatly convey how the man feels about himself and how conscious he is about his looks.  The animation is also brilliant as the man in the short moves very fluidly and I just love how the lighting gets light whenever something good happens to the man and gets dark whenever something bad happens to the man.

My only issue with this short is that the beginning was pretty slow and it took a while for things to really pick up in this short once the man starts to pick off the petals off the flower.

Overall, "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" is a very interesting and strange short that shows the consequences of being too narcissistic in such a creative way.  I would definitely give this short a watch!

• Pop
• Face Like a Frog
• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions

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[SHORTS REVIEW] Pop (1996)

 

OR

Title: Pop

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Surrealism / Comedy

Company: Aardman Animations

Directed by: Sam Fell

Year: 1996

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

The short starts off with a man who is waiting for a soda pop to come out of the machine, while his pet goldfish is getting irritated with being stuck inside a bowl.  But then, the soda finally comes out of the machine and the man is ready to drink the soda, until the soda starts shaking uncontrollably and it flies out of the man's hands and once it reaches the man, the results are explosive!

So recently, I started checking out some of Aardman Animation's older shorts that they made throughout the 1980s and 1990s and one of the shorts that I stumbled upon was "Pop." After I started watching this short, I was quite surprised by how bizarre this particular short was and I was even more surprised that this short came from Aardman Animations, of all animation studios!  When I think of Aardman Animations, I think mostly of "Wallace and Gromit" and "Shaun the Sheep," which are Aardman Animations' most popular animated series.  But I never knew that Aardman Animations had created several shorts in the past and now, I'm more interested in checking them all out!  "Pop" was a very interesting little, short film that was definitely one of the weirdest things that I have ever seen (which is really saying something as I've seen loads of weird shorts over the years).  What made this film so interesting to watch is that it manages to turn its simple premise about a man just wanting to drink a soda pop on its head in the weirdest way possible and I absolutely loved that about this film!  Another thing that I loved about this film were the bizarre designs of the characters.  Now sometimes, a character's design can be a make it or break it scenario for me, depending on how disturbing looking the designs are.  While the designs in this short are definitely creepy at times, I loved how weird the man and goldfish's faces were in this short and I especially loved the bizarre backgrounds in this short as they really made this short stand out from any other short that I have seen!

I don't really have that many issues with this short, but sometimes the designs of the characters can come off as being a bit creepy, especially with the man's eyes being heavily mismatched in some scenes.

Overall, "Pop" is a very intriguing and bizarre short that fans of Aardman Animations will definitely be interested in.  If you are interested in checking out more of Aardman Animations' shorts, then I would definitely give "Pop" a watch!

• Face Like a Frog

• Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions

• Quasi at the Quackadero

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