This is an Oscar-winning animated short from 1966 and is definitely a product of its times. First, like almost all animation from this period, the quality shows a huge drop from the animation of the 40s and 50s--with low cel counts and very, very simple animation. In more recent years, there has been a huge improvement in this and the Oscar winners of the 60s and into the 70s just don't look very good compared to the years before or after. Second, it's a product of the times because it features Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass*--a very, very successful musical group that dominated the pop charts in the mid- late 60s.
The film consists of two of the group's more famous musical pieces, "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi". To the music is very simple animation that sometimes seems to fit the music and is in many ways a precursor to music videos. The other two reviews, so far, loved the film. As for me, it just looked cheap...but I liked the music.
*I watched a recent documentary and found out, to my surprise, that there really was no 'Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass'...at least not initially. It seems that Alpert created his music in a studio with a studio band and only later hired musicians for his 'Tijuana Brass' when the group became popular and offers to have them tour developed. The session artists declined to join him (after all, they were doing very well for themselves already) and he created a band from scratch after the albums became popular! See "The Wrecking Crew" for more on this.
The film consists of two of the group's more famous musical pieces, "Spanish Flea" and "Tijuana Taxi". To the music is very simple animation that sometimes seems to fit the music and is in many ways a precursor to music videos. The other two reviews, so far, loved the film. As for me, it just looked cheap...but I liked the music.
*I watched a recent documentary and found out, to my surprise, that there really was no 'Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass'...at least not initially. It seems that Alpert created his music in a studio with a studio band and only later hired musicians for his 'Tijuana Brass' when the group became popular and offers to have them tour developed. The session artists declined to join him (after all, they were doing very well for themselves already) and he created a band from scratch after the albums became popular! See "The Wrecking Crew" for more on this.