While a lot of Fleischer Studios' output is good to wonderful, the early 40s was not a good period for them. It actually saw them in quite a big decline generally, and most of the "Stone Age" series are perfect representations as to why. Not all the cartoons in the series are bad, 'Way Back When a Razzberry was a Fruit' was surprisingly pretty good and 'Granite Hotel' was decent too. Most of them are mediocre at best and the worst of them weak.
'The Fulla Bluff Man' is neither one of the best or worst "Stone Age" cartoons. It is a watchable cartoon, especially by "Stone Age" series standards, but only as a one-time watch and very much a mixed bag that actually for me was not easy to rate or review. There are improvements here in 'The Fulla Bluff Man' and the usual sporadic good things but there are also a lot of the usual weaknesses. It is a somewhat interesting but not original setting and not much new is done with it.
Its best asset is the music, which was a consistent good thing regardless of how good, average or bad the cartoon was. It is typically lush and characterful. Jack Mercer and Mae Questel, Fleischer regulars and very versatile voice actors, do what they can with their material with Mercer (because of having more to do) faring better at getting more out of it.
Did think that the humour was not enough and was nothing special but there were amusing moments, more so than the usual "Stone Age" cartoon (which tended to be unfunny). The ending is the best part. The titular character is a nice character and more compelling than a vast majority of the characters in the series.
For those good things and improvements however, the animation is not too great with too sparse backgrounds and crude and rushed looking drawing. It is a shame because a good deal of the early 40s output still managed to be well animated, it was the writing, story and characters that suffered. And all three on the most part suffer here. A few amusing moments aside, which is an improvement at least, the gags are too few and they tend generally to be pretty anaemic.
Much of the story is near-non existent and predictable when there are signs of any. The premise is not a new one and there is no freshness here, or enough energy. Other than the titular character, the other characters don't have much presence or personality.
Overall, watchable once but with nowhere near enough to it to be a must. 5/10
'The Fulla Bluff Man' is neither one of the best or worst "Stone Age" cartoons. It is a watchable cartoon, especially by "Stone Age" series standards, but only as a one-time watch and very much a mixed bag that actually for me was not easy to rate or review. There are improvements here in 'The Fulla Bluff Man' and the usual sporadic good things but there are also a lot of the usual weaknesses. It is a somewhat interesting but not original setting and not much new is done with it.
Its best asset is the music, which was a consistent good thing regardless of how good, average or bad the cartoon was. It is typically lush and characterful. Jack Mercer and Mae Questel, Fleischer regulars and very versatile voice actors, do what they can with their material with Mercer (because of having more to do) faring better at getting more out of it.
Did think that the humour was not enough and was nothing special but there were amusing moments, more so than the usual "Stone Age" cartoon (which tended to be unfunny). The ending is the best part. The titular character is a nice character and more compelling than a vast majority of the characters in the series.
For those good things and improvements however, the animation is not too great with too sparse backgrounds and crude and rushed looking drawing. It is a shame because a good deal of the early 40s output still managed to be well animated, it was the writing, story and characters that suffered. And all three on the most part suffer here. A few amusing moments aside, which is an improvement at least, the gags are too few and they tend generally to be pretty anaemic.
Much of the story is near-non existent and predictable when there are signs of any. The premise is not a new one and there is no freshness here, or enough energy. Other than the titular character, the other characters don't have much presence or personality.
Overall, watchable once but with nowhere near enough to it to be a must. 5/10
