Speaking of Animals in the Zoo (1941) Online

In 1941 Tex Avery started a series of cartoons 'Speaking of Animals'. These cartoons may not be among the best cartoons there's ever been and those with Avery's involvement are not among the best he's ever done, but they are very interesting and entertaining on the most part with a unique visual style.

'Speaking of Animals in the Zoo' is the third short in the series and is another solid one. It's not as good as the first cartoon 'Speaking of Animals Down on the Farm', suffering slightly from the lack of Avery's involvement (being directed by Jerry Fairbanks and Robert Carlisle, who still do a very good job), meaning it's not quite as inventive and wild. Once again, it is interesting from a visual and historical perspective and makes it easy to see why the series was important and popular at the time. Anybody looking for any kind of plot are best looking elsewhere. On a story level, the 'Speaking of Animals' cartoons on a story level are pretty slight. With that being said, it's not about the story. It's the visual style and the humour that the series is to be seen for and both are done brilliantly here.

Once again, has ingenious use of Rotoscoping, with animation being re-shot and matted into the animal footage, and its combining of live action animals and animated mouths similarly looks incredible. It's this that is the shorts', and for the series in general, most striking and notable asset.

The puns, sight gags and slapstick jokes are very funny and there is a lot of energy throughout.

Mel Blanc is reliably excellent and all the animals endear and entertain. The zoo setting is very well evoked, capturing the fun of it.

In conclusion, solid effort again. 8/10 Bethany Cox