Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Have a good deal of respect and appreciation for Bob Clampett, more often that than not, and while not quite one of my favourite Looney Tunes characters (prefer those with consistently stronger, funnier and interesting personalities) Porky has always been very easy to like. There are other cartoons of theirs that do justice to them much better. Not a bad cartoon by all means, just that it never really rises above average.
Porky is a likeable enough character and plays it straight well enough, at least also he is treated as a lead and used pretty well, but he has been funnier before and his personality stronger. Clampett is on reasonably tame form here, there are signs of his distinctive style, parts are suitably wild, but there is not much imaginative or zany.
Apart from a few nice moments, namely a few of the blackout gags, the gags and humour are not particularly inventive or funny, too much of it is corny and very of the time, especially with the group of singers. The running gag does run thin too early.
The story is basic and predictable, while the supporting characters are not particularly memorable outside of the not-to-be-taken-kindly racial stereotypes.
Didn't care for the narration here. Like Robert C. Bruce as a voice actor and he has done some great cartoon narration in the "How To..." Goofy series. The narration here was not particularly entertaining or educational, instead it added little and was pretty annoying.
However, Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it here. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor.
'Pilgrim Porky's' animation is very good. it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. There are a few amusing moments, some nice energy and there are signs of Clampett's style. 'Pilgrim Porky' at least does nothing to diminish Porky's likeability as a character.
Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.
In summary, has its moments but underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox