Two years ago I was still early on in my blogging, and I was doing a fair amount of movie reviews. So, when Christmas came, I hit our public library and checked out a bunch of holiday-themed cartoons. I think I did about one a week.
After posting a review, I’d also post it over at BlogCritics. It was still young then, and I still had lots of time to post elsewhere often.
Anyway, I posted a bad… OK, horrible… OK, really horrible review of the 1962 “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” (You can read it here.)
I took a lot of flak for it over at BlogCritics, and, to be fair, “I can see myself walloping Tiny Tim with his own cane” was a tad strong. But what’s surprised me the most is how this review comes back to haunt me each Christmas season (the review ranks #10 on Google). Talk about Dickensian!
Some of favorite comments include:
…no amount of “Bah, humbug” from you will tarnish my memories and enjoyment of this wonderful musical “that I will cherish all my days.
Anderson you’re a pompous fool… relive your childhood like Magoo did,
and btw, learn to draw.“RAZZLEBERRY DRESSING”! Go ahead and scream.
I responded to each for a while, and, again, to be fair, I sort of fanned the flames. However, I don’t understand how this response from me…
See that’s the great thing about a blog reviews vs. your standard newspaper/tv/whatever review – dialogue!
…garnered this from the original commenter almost a year later:
Wow! Just got a chance to read your comment to my response. I admire your sparkling comeback — what a gem. The proficiency of your verbal skills is only exceeded by your extraordinary drawing skills. Simply brilliant!
Yeesh!
This year I finally got a comment on my original blog here.
You may be alone in your comments about the Magoo Christmas Carol. The musical score is much superior to the majority of future Xmas show specials like Santa Claus is coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman. Only Rudolph can be counted as an equal.
No, Magoo isn’t Magoo. But the songs are moving, catchy, original and highly acclaimed. It is a feel good program, not filled with sexual innuendos or poor tasteless jokes. Most who remember this appreciate the simple fact that it is what it is.
So not only am I wrong, but apparently I can only enjoy a Christmas cartoon if everyone in it is farting while having sex.
OK, here’s the deal – I didn’t grow up watching this, so I don’t have any fond memories to color my review. In fact, I’d never heard of this until the librarian suggested it.
My review is unabashedly a bashing of an older film, and maybe that’s not fair, but just because it’s some 40 years old and a Christmas film to boot doesn’t mean it’s good either.
I’m no animation aficionado, and I’ll be the first to admit that my silly little cartoons pale in comparison to even the Magoo legacy, but good lord people, lighten up.
Technorati Tags: andertoons, animation, cartooning, cartoonists, cartoons, movies
Hey, I enjoyed your review.
Remember, the people with gripes are usually the ones that take time to comment or write. I recently got an e-mail from a lady regarding a humor column I do for a local magazine…she wanted to know why I wasted my time writing humor instead of writing on "important" things. I was tempted to shoot off a reply asking why she was wasting her time complaining about humor instead of doing important things. But I didn't.
The internet often provides some measure of anonymity, which contributes to people sounding more vitriolic than they would if their names were attached to those rants.
Anyway, I think "I can see myself walloping Tiny Tim with his own cane" was pretty funny.
Keep it up, Scrooge. 🙂
Dude, you're way too harsh. You went and made Mr. Magoo, and all those Magoo-lovers, cry.
Farting during sex and the whole Tiny Tim cane thing made me laugh. Thanks for that. Almost drank the coffee the wrong way while laughing.
But, yeah, I didn't grow up with Magoo, so I avoid those cartoons. I also grew up with Rankin Bass cartoons and Hanna Barbera — and I STILL avoid those cartoons. FLINTSTONES, FROSTY, etc. — Yeesh! I never like 'em and never will.
Just give me my eggnog and that hotsy totsy Maureen O'Hara in MIRACLE ON 42nd STREET!
Thanks guys – I was really beginning to feel like some sort of Magoo pariah.
Anige – Is there a link to your column? (I'm going to click on your name as soon as I'm done writing this, but I don't want to risk losing everything I'm writing here.)
Mike – I dunno, I've always beem more a Donna Reed type pf guy. "Salt … that life may always have flavor" indeed! GROWL!
The piece she was responding to was my November Thanksgiving column, which I posted on my blog here:
http://www.angiebrennan.com/2006/11/thanksgiving-fare-or-not-fair.html
Why she would consider making fun of cranberry sauce unimportant is beyond me.
Maureen O'Hara operates those miracles on 34th Street, not 42nd. My bad.
Point taken: Donna "Buffalo Gal" Reed sure is a cutie.
But let's not forget Beverly D'Angelo in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS MOVIE or Maureen ("Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!") McCormick in A VERY BRADY BRADY CHRISTMAS! Such Xmas classics!!!!
But, seriously, I think it all begins and ends with wasp-waisted dancer/actress Vera-Ellen in WHITE CHIRSTMAS! Humminah, humminah!
I had to look up Vera Ellen – not bad. D'Angelo I'd almost forgotten about. But McCormick? I dunno… Maybe Ann B. Davis…