Four mischievous boys (a chimp, a bear cub, a wolf cub and a puppy) interrupt the lovemaking of a cat and his sweetheart.Four mischievous boys (a chimp, a bear cub, a wolf cub and a puppy) interrupt the lovemaking of a cat and his sweetheart.Four mischievous boys (a chimp, a bear cub, a wolf cub and a puppy) interrupt the lovemaking of a cat and his sweetheart.
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Featured review
The Last Dance
Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.
'The Last Dance' is not quite among the worst of the 1931 batch of Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons or quite among their very worst but it contains a lot of the studio's/series' usual flaws and isn't a good cartoon. It tries too hard to be cutesy which Van Beuren have rarely been successful at, and there is very little of the absurdist and surreal humour that can be seen in their best efforts, or at least it's not done right. There are a couple of decent things but they are far overshadowed by everything else that 'The Last Dance' does badly wrong.
Best asset about 'The Last Dance' is the music score, pretty much the best thing consistently of Van Beuren's output. Sometimes even the only good thing. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
A few neatly synchronised sound effects here and occasionally the pace has a liveliness.
Coming onto the numerous criticisms, the animation is not good, in fact it is downright bad most of the time with erratically sloppy character designs in particular while the simplistic background detail and lack of fluidity and crispness are just as difficult to ignore.
Story is very slight to the point of non-existence and suffers from very sluggish timing on the most part. The pace was in serious need of a kick in places especially in the middle where it was especially aimless. It is not as disjointed and makes more sense than many Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons, but it just feels dull and bland.
Likewise with endearing or memorable characters, the two sweethearts are pretty personality deprived and while the animal boy characters are a little more interesting they veer on the annoying. All of them are not well animated at all and look nothing like what animals they're meant to be.
Generally the cartoon is very low on laughs, actually none of it is remotely amusing and it all feels rather disorganised. Nothing is inventive, never rising above the forgettable and there is not much absurdist about them. As said it tries too hard to be cute in places, to the point of being saccharine, and it sucks out the energy and humour.
Overall, there is worse in the series and from the studio but there is not much to recommend. 3/10 Bethany Cox
'The Last Dance' is not quite among the worst of the 1931 batch of Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons or quite among their very worst but it contains a lot of the studio's/series' usual flaws and isn't a good cartoon. It tries too hard to be cutesy which Van Beuren have rarely been successful at, and there is very little of the absurdist and surreal humour that can be seen in their best efforts, or at least it's not done right. There are a couple of decent things but they are far overshadowed by everything else that 'The Last Dance' does badly wrong.
Best asset about 'The Last Dance' is the music score, pretty much the best thing consistently of Van Beuren's output. Sometimes even the only good thing. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
A few neatly synchronised sound effects here and occasionally the pace has a liveliness.
Coming onto the numerous criticisms, the animation is not good, in fact it is downright bad most of the time with erratically sloppy character designs in particular while the simplistic background detail and lack of fluidity and crispness are just as difficult to ignore.
Story is very slight to the point of non-existence and suffers from very sluggish timing on the most part. The pace was in serious need of a kick in places especially in the middle where it was especially aimless. It is not as disjointed and makes more sense than many Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons, but it just feels dull and bland.
Likewise with endearing or memorable characters, the two sweethearts are pretty personality deprived and while the animal boy characters are a little more interesting they veer on the annoying. All of them are not well animated at all and look nothing like what animals they're meant to be.
Generally the cartoon is very low on laughs, actually none of it is remotely amusing and it all feels rather disorganised. Nothing is inventive, never rising above the forgettable and there is not much absurdist about them. As said it tries too hard to be cute in places, to the point of being saccharine, and it sucks out the energy and humour.
Overall, there is worse in the series and from the studio but there is not much to recommend. 3/10 Bethany Cox
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 19, 2018
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- 1.37 : 1
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