TheLittleSongbird Review of One Meat Brawl

One Meat Brawl (1947)

Slow start and not much new in terms of story, but definitely worth watching

[7/10 · 24 August 2012]

One Meat Brawl is not one of my favourites from Looney Tunes. It starts off slow, with a nice if going-on-for-slightly-too-long song from the Groundhog. The story is also not much new, reading a lot like the Bugs and Elmer cartoons, which worked even with this formula with stronger characters and somewhat wittier humour, but with Porky, Mandrake and the Groundhog. However, after Mandrake meets the Groundhog for the first time, One Meat Brawl picks up significantly and the rest is a lot of fun. The dialogue is suitably witty, I did get a good laugh out of the Groundhog's aside "dogs are suckers for sob stories", and the gags are great especially Porky and Mandrake wrestling with one another and the Groundhog joins in, the shadows fighting for nothing at the end and especially Porky's hilarious reaction at the Groundhog making a sap out of Mandrake(Porky too gets this later on). Porky is better when he is working with Daffy with equal screen time, but he isn't shoved into the background, and while his material is not as funny as Mandrake or the Groundhog he does have some very good moments. Mandrake is a strong character, whether he is chasing the Groundhog, manipulating Porky into that he ate him or when he is crying his eyes out. But the star of One Meat Brawl was the Groundhog, even with his cute appearance(which can go either way in cartoons) this is one funny character. I love his asides, which are almost worthy of Bugs and Daffy, while what he says as he makes a sap out of both Mandrake and Porky, sad as some of it is, is hysterically funny. Mel Blanc as ever gives bravura characterisations. The animation is colourful with really beautiful backgrounds especially with the very opening with the Vienesse-waltz-style music accompanying it. Porky is not as well drawn as he has been before, but is still acceptable regardless. The music is both lush in orchestration and energetic in pace, which is what one would expect. All in all, definitely worth the look. 7/10 Bethany Cox