Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Another early effort for Bob Clampett and Porky Pig, 'Porky's Five & Ten' is not one of the best for either of them. It is nevertheless very good and has a lot to recommend in its favour. Other Porky Pig cartoons do more justice to him and are better representations of him, but even when he went on to greater things it is a quite great representation of Clampett, containing all that made worthy of much admiration.
Not much wrong here in 'Porky's Five & Ten'. Porky is underused somewhat and the ending is rather weird and comes out of nowhere.
However, Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it in 'Porky's Five & Ten'. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor.
The animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The story may be predictable, but it's beautifully paced with never a dull moment and strongly structured.
Clampett's unmistakable humour and style is all over 'Porky's Five & Ten', to highly imaginative and deliciously wild effect. This comes through in both the writing and the sight gags, with some inspired and witty Hollywood caricatures seen with the fish characters.
Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.
Summing up, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox