Twinkletoes Gets the Bird (1941) User Reviews

So Does This Cartoon

[boblipton · 5/10 · 11 February 2010]

In the aftermath of the success of their first animated feature, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, the Fleischers tried to spin off some of the characters into series. The annoying Gabby got a few cartoons, so did the spies, and in this one, the carrier pigeon the spies use is named 'Twinkletoes' and given a starring role.

Twinkletoes is working for an express company and is given the task of delivering a parrot to the royal palace. Unhappily, while competently done, it lacks the hallmark of the better Fleischer cartoons, a constant barrage of well-timed gags and asides to the audience. The result is decent, but of real interest only to completists.

Twinkletoes and the parrot

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 9 July 2018]

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

'Twinkletoes Gets the Bird' is one of eleven cartoons forming Fleischer's "Animated Antics" from 1940-1941. None of the eleven being high points in the studio's output (a long way from that), the worst even being some of the weakest they and Fleischer himself did. To me and quite a few others Fleischer's overall quality declined quite a bit in the early 40s and that can be evident in the "Animated Antics" series, almost as much as the worst of the Gabby cartoons. 'Twinkletoes Gets the Bird' is not one of the worst but there is not much note worthy here.

Best asset of 'Twinkletoes Gets the Bird' is the music, which is outstanding. It's lush, cleverly orchestrated, energetic, full of character and not just adds a huge amount to the action it enhances it. The animation also comes over well, it's not elaborate or ground-breaking but there are some good detail in the backgrounds that don't seem to show limitations and fluid enough drawing, the black and white also being crisp.

Jack Mercer does a nice job with the voice work, or at least with what he has.

Despite the attempts to expand upon the minor character of Twinkletoes from Fleischer's classic 'Gulliver's Travels', he is far better suited to minor/supporting character, as a lead character there is not much to him. He is pretty bland and annoying. The parrot fares better but not by much. There is very little charm here, it tries far too hard to be cute and there is nothing remotely amusing let alone funny. There is a severe shortage of gags, or much worth investing in.

Furthermore, the story is paper thin and it does feel like 7 minutes over-stretched to breaking point that the pace is very dull, coming nowhere near close to matching the energy heard in the music.

Overall, very mediocre but not unwatchable. 4/10 Bethany Cox