'Papa Gets the Bird' (1940)
Opening thoughts: While Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising didn't go into daring, controversial subject territory very often, when they did the results were often quite surprising in a good way. Their output was inconsistent, some very good and more cartoons but also some rather mediocre ones, which was apparent in the Happy Harmonies series. One of Harmon's least appealing cartoons is 'Papa Gets the Bird'. Not all the Three Bears cartoons were bad at all, one actually was very good, but this average at best cartoon is for me the worst. It has good things, but suffers from its lack of laughs and energy and that the characters do not appeal in the slightest. When it comes to ranking Harman's cartoons, 'Papa Gets the Bird' is for me definitely among his worst and is as weak as Ising at his worst. Which is not a good position at all to be in.
Good things: It is very well made visually on the most part, with it being beautifully detailed and a mix of vibrant and unsettling. It doesn't try to do too much while not being simplistic at the same time, the hallucinatory visuals being wonderfully surreal in a way seldom seen in other Harman cartoons. The music is outstanding, lush, characterful with the odd haunting moment.
Wilbur had a few mildly amusing moments. The voice cast do give their all with their poor material.
Bad things: That however is pretty much it for the good things. The gag count is very low here in 'Papa Gets the Bird', and what there is is neither funny or creative and is instead stale and tired with no wit or sharpness. Actually found some of it on the repetitive side too. The story is very flimsy with too little content and even for a premise that this viewer was expecting to not contain many surprises the action was excessively predictable.
Furthermore, the energy just isn't there and just flags, while the attempts at surrealism are very bland and a little too odd. Imagination is nowhere in sight. Apart from fleeting moments with Wilbur, the characters don't engage or appeal. Papa is not interesting or amusing, with the writing really overdoing his laziness and idiocy he came over as insultingly obnoxious. Mama has nothing to do and is pointless. The chemistry between the characters is disconnected.
Concluding thoughts: All in all, very underwhelming.
4/10.