The Clouseau series of cartoons was somewhat uneven, but most were at least decent and some were very good. Generally, if the villain or situation was well done and there was a balance between good dialogue and the sight gags, the cartoon worked better. Without an interesting opponent, it's just Clouseau the bumbler and that isn't enough to carry a cartoon. In Crab Louie and his nervous oyster henchman who breaks out in pearls, you have a good foil for Clouseau and the cartoon is very funny and worth watching. Recommended.
4 Reviews
Very Humorous Dialog Makes This One Of The Better Series Episodes
ccthemovieman-113 March 2008
Very clever dialog is the highlight of this "Inspector" cartoon. The conversations between The Inspector and his partner Deux-Deux are very good - with the running gag of "si" versus "oui" - but the conversations between the two main villains are even better. In this one, we have a big clam and his lobster partner. If that sounds ridiculous, it looks even more so but in a good way. To see a clam, "Captain Clamity," with arms and legs (one a peg-leg) and smoking a big cigar and wearing a sailor's cap is pretty funny. When he gets nervous, he breaks out in "pearls" and spits them up. Yes, this cartoon is very weird. His partner, " Crab Louie," is really a big lobster with big red claws. Those two characters are good with puns.
The clam and the lobster are smugglers aboard a big ship. The Inspector and Deux-Deux are in a little rowboat, going out to meet the boat and grab the thieves. The rowboat is the main focus of the sight gags in this cartoon.
This was only my second look at these Pink Panther-spin off cartoons and I can only hope the rest of them in this DVD collection are as entertaining as this one. (Note: now that I've completed watching them, I found out most weren't as good as this one, but there are some excellent ones.) You can see them all on the disc called "the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6 - Inspector Cartoons.
The clam and the lobster are smugglers aboard a big ship. The Inspector and Deux-Deux are in a little rowboat, going out to meet the boat and grab the thieves. The rowboat is the main focus of the sight gags in this cartoon.
This was only my second look at these Pink Panther-spin off cartoons and I can only hope the rest of them in this DVD collection are as entertaining as this one. (Note: now that I've completed watching them, I found out most weren't as good as this one, but there are some excellent ones.) You can see them all on the disc called "the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6 - Inspector Cartoons.
Crabs and rowing boats
TheLittleSongbird10 May 2019
Anybody who likes the Pink Panther cartoons are very likely to get a kick of the Inspector series. Count me as somebody who does like Pink Panther, if more the 60s cartoons than the ones from particularly the mid 70s onwards which were not as funny, looked cheaper and were more routine and formulaic. Found myself liking The Inspector cartoons just as much as the 60s Pink Panther cartoons as a child, like them even more through adult eyes.
Of the thirty four The Inspector cartoons, 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat' (love the title, the series did boast some clever titles) is one of the best. It must not have been easy making a cartoon as great as the great start to the series that was 'The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation' but 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat' does it and very, very well indeed. All of the cartoons in The Inspector series have exactly the same main strengths to each other, though some had more interesting villains and cleverer and fresher stories with more surprises than others (while still delivering more than adequately on those elements).
Drawn in the unmistakable DePatie-Freleng style, the animation is great, like in 'The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation'. Fairly simple in terms of drawing but never ugly, while the somewhat abstract backgrounds have nice attention to detail, more so than the Pink Panther cartoons (not a knock at all on the animation of that series), and don't look sparse. But it is the deep and rich colours that stand out in this regard.
Forgot before to mention the music. The opening titles are classic, while the music accompanying the action, while not enhancing is not discordant at all with it either. Liked its jazzy slinkiness and it did not sound cheap either.
Really liked the humour in 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat', the boat playing a large part in it. There is slapstick physical comedy, which is violent but not in a sadistic way, it is never vulgar, sharply timed, well timed and most importantly of all it's funny. Even better is the verbal humour, whether the more ironic moments, the mumblings or The Inspector's frustrations with Deux Deux, appreciated the word-play being subtle yet witty, like with "oui-sick" and "si-sick". A few of the gags are still a little corny and not everything surprises, my one complaint here.
What is also great is The Inspector character and the chemistry between him and his partner Deux Deux (also love his character). The Inspector's bumbling brings a great deal of amusement in the more slapstick-driven moments and did like that there was also a subtle irony in much of the comedy. This is beautifully and often hilariously contrasted with that of the more laid back and amusingly confused Deux Deux, one of the few characters in existence to make mumblings funny and not irritating or being over-whiny when complaining. Their interplay is a delight.
'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat's' story is one of the least formulaic ones. Actually loved its weirdness and although it sounds ridiculous to me it was rather charming really. The ending was amusing. Loved the villains too, among the series' most imaginative and most wonderfully surreal, not ones you'll forget in a hurry.
Pat Harrington Jr voices both The Inspector and Deux Deux and does wonderfully in providing the necessary energy and managing to differentiate the two voices that is important in making the contrast between the two believable. Paul Frees has fun as the villains and doesn't make them anywhere near as silly as their names on paper sound.
Concluding, great second cartoon and one of The Inspector series' best. 9/10
Of the thirty four The Inspector cartoons, 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat' (love the title, the series did boast some clever titles) is one of the best. It must not have been easy making a cartoon as great as the great start to the series that was 'The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation' but 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat' does it and very, very well indeed. All of the cartoons in The Inspector series have exactly the same main strengths to each other, though some had more interesting villains and cleverer and fresher stories with more surprises than others (while still delivering more than adequately on those elements).
Drawn in the unmistakable DePatie-Freleng style, the animation is great, like in 'The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation'. Fairly simple in terms of drawing but never ugly, while the somewhat abstract backgrounds have nice attention to detail, more so than the Pink Panther cartoons (not a knock at all on the animation of that series), and don't look sparse. But it is the deep and rich colours that stand out in this regard.
Forgot before to mention the music. The opening titles are classic, while the music accompanying the action, while not enhancing is not discordant at all with it either. Liked its jazzy slinkiness and it did not sound cheap either.
Really liked the humour in 'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat', the boat playing a large part in it. There is slapstick physical comedy, which is violent but not in a sadistic way, it is never vulgar, sharply timed, well timed and most importantly of all it's funny. Even better is the verbal humour, whether the more ironic moments, the mumblings or The Inspector's frustrations with Deux Deux, appreciated the word-play being subtle yet witty, like with "oui-sick" and "si-sick". A few of the gags are still a little corny and not everything surprises, my one complaint here.
What is also great is The Inspector character and the chemistry between him and his partner Deux Deux (also love his character). The Inspector's bumbling brings a great deal of amusement in the more slapstick-driven moments and did like that there was also a subtle irony in much of the comedy. This is beautifully and often hilariously contrasted with that of the more laid back and amusingly confused Deux Deux, one of the few characters in existence to make mumblings funny and not irritating or being over-whiny when complaining. Their interplay is a delight.
'Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat's' story is one of the least formulaic ones. Actually loved its weirdness and although it sounds ridiculous to me it was rather charming really. The ending was amusing. Loved the villains too, among the series' most imaginative and most wonderfully surreal, not ones you'll forget in a hurry.
Pat Harrington Jr voices both The Inspector and Deux Deux and does wonderfully in providing the necessary energy and managing to differentiate the two voices that is important in making the contrast between the two believable. Paul Frees has fun as the villains and doesn't make them anywhere near as silly as their names on paper sound.
Concluding, great second cartoon and one of The Inspector series' best. 9/10
The title of this picture is a good example . . .
pixrox128 August 2023
. . . of how the fatuous French are so prone to make a Gallic pig's ear from a solid American silk purse. Writing under a pseudonym, future hero president Abe Lincoln penned the original version of this round during the early afternoon hours of Feb. 12, 1826, which happened to be his seventeenth birthday. His initial rendition ran many verses, with such now-forgotten stanzas as "Row, row, row your raft gently down the river: If you see a polar bear, don't forget to shiver" and "Row, row, row you boat roughly up the creek: If your craft fills with water, then you've got a leak." These were some of the lyrics the Union line sung out as they turned back Picket's Charge at Gettysburg to win America's third Civil War. With their strangled spelling of this U. S. sacred hymn, the French are mocking what it means to be an American Patriot.
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