To me, the Blue Racer theatrical series is one of the weaker ones from DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, along with Tijuana Toads and Crazylegs Crane. The only outstanding things about all seventeen cartoons made between 1972 and 1974 are the music and the opening credits. Blue Racer, the animation and the humour had moments and a couple of the later cartoons tried to be a little more creative. The cartoons though were generally undone by being repetitive.
As well as being cheap and having too many tried and tested retreads for gags and very unappealing supporting characters (especially that beetle). Although the first cartoon in the Blue Racer series, 'Hiss and Hers' is not the first appearances of either Blue Racer or the beetle. Both were introduced in the Tijuana Toads series, in 'Snakes in the Gracias' and 'Hop and Chop' respectively. 'Hiss and Hers' is a mediocre start and contains pretty much everything that is wrong with the series.
'Hiss and Hers' is not all bad. The best things about it are the music and the opening credits. The music has energy and character, with the main theme having a jazzy nature that was truly appealing on the ears. The opening credits have the creativity that was lacking in the humour.
Some nice colours here and there can be seen. The bridge gag comes off best of the gags, though that was only amusing. Blue Racer has the best line, "this is the first time that I've been beaten from the inside".
However, there are a lot of drawbacks in 'Hiss and Hers'. Most of the animation is scrappy in drawing and flatly coloured, the studio did do their cartoons in a purpsefully abstract visual style which was done beautifully in the 60s but here in 'Hiss and Hers' and much of the Blue Racer series it is overly-simple to the point of cheapness. Blue Racer was better as a supporting character in 'Snake in the Gracias', his personality is rather one-note and is not that distinct. Worse is the distasteful stereotype that is the beetle (think Mickey Rooney in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' in beetle form and that's pretty much the character), and he is also incredibly annoying. The voice acting is very nearly as broad and stereotypical as it was in the Tijuana Toads series, Tom Holland's attempts at broken English is just cringe-worthy for words and Larry D. Mann actually sounds less crafty than he did in 'Snake in the Gracias'.
When you could understand the dialogue, it lacks wit and is very perfunctory. The beetle's final line is not funny (none of his final lines were) and has a "what did I just hear" vibe (what was said, not how). The gags, even the best one the one with the bridge, are pretty tried and tested retreads of ones seen before in other cartoons, how many times do we have to see dynamite-like objects used to catch prey. The story is very thin, all it is is like four stretched out gags, and predictable with a scenario that has been old for years. Oh and the wife character was also unbearable, yet another version of the abrasive, abusive wife cliche. The pace felt dull from the story feeling over-stretched and the ending is mean-spirited.
Overall, mediocre start. 4/10.
6 out of 6 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
