At its best, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote were really wonderful cartoons, while they were formulaic at the series' best they were very funny, often hilarious, with great music, often clever visuals and even greater interplay between Roadrunner and Coyote.
Unfortunately, the series have seen a fair few duds as well, disadvantaged by being not particularly funny (quite tired in fact), being too repetitive, Roadrunner being annoying, looking cheap and Bill Lava's ill-fitting and even more cheap music, made only watchable by the odd decent gag and Coyote having some likability.
Thankfully, while not one of the classics of the series 'Hopalong Casualty' is a long way from being one of the duds. Not one of the all-time best Roadrunner vs Coyote cartoons but in the top end, with not much really that is wrong.
It is not among the most audacious looking of the Roadrunner vs Coyote cartoons, with the drawing having been slightly smoother before and the backgrounds having a little more detail. That said the animation is certainly not bad at all, it is still bright and colourful, the colours are eye-catching and both characters are well drawn with their movements fluid. The earthquake pills gag contains some really clever and quite brilliant animation on Coyote, a huge part as to why the gag is as good as it is. Milt Franklyn's music is lushly orchestrated, energetic, characterful, cleverly used and action-enhancing in equal measure as ever. Have a preference to Carl Stalling's scores, which had all of those things but even more so. Both are instantly more preferable to Bill Lava's.
'Hopalong Casualty' is never less than very funny and is paced beautifully. The highlight is indeed the classic earthquake pills gag which is just hilarious, one of the cleverest of the latter Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons in my opinion. The story may be formulaic and ever so slightly predictable, but it always feels fresh and is never dull. Roadrunner is cute and amusing, but Coyote has always been the funnier and more interesting character and he doesn't disappoint at all.
Overall, hugely enjoyable with one particularly great gag. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Unfortunately, the series have seen a fair few duds as well, disadvantaged by being not particularly funny (quite tired in fact), being too repetitive, Roadrunner being annoying, looking cheap and Bill Lava's ill-fitting and even more cheap music, made only watchable by the odd decent gag and Coyote having some likability.
Thankfully, while not one of the classics of the series 'Hopalong Casualty' is a long way from being one of the duds. Not one of the all-time best Roadrunner vs Coyote cartoons but in the top end, with not much really that is wrong.
It is not among the most audacious looking of the Roadrunner vs Coyote cartoons, with the drawing having been slightly smoother before and the backgrounds having a little more detail. That said the animation is certainly not bad at all, it is still bright and colourful, the colours are eye-catching and both characters are well drawn with their movements fluid. The earthquake pills gag contains some really clever and quite brilliant animation on Coyote, a huge part as to why the gag is as good as it is. Milt Franklyn's music is lushly orchestrated, energetic, characterful, cleverly used and action-enhancing in equal measure as ever. Have a preference to Carl Stalling's scores, which had all of those things but even more so. Both are instantly more preferable to Bill Lava's.
'Hopalong Casualty' is never less than very funny and is paced beautifully. The highlight is indeed the classic earthquake pills gag which is just hilarious, one of the cleverest of the latter Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons in my opinion. The story may be formulaic and ever so slightly predictable, but it always feels fresh and is never dull. Roadrunner is cute and amusing, but Coyote has always been the funnier and more interesting character and he doesn't disappoint at all.
Overall, hugely enjoyable with one particularly great gag. 9/10 Bethany Cox