This is a Mister Magoo short from UPA Studios. There will be spoilers ahead:
Mister Magoo cartoons are one trick ponies. They all arise from Magoo's difficulties in seeing things clearly. So each short rises or falls based on just how well the story is written or how clever and amusing the gags are. Some of them are great (Magoo's Puddle Jumper, for example) and some are just horrible. The majority are neither exceptional nor total wastes of pen and ink. This is one of that majority.
The basic story can be summed up as follows: Magoo misreads something, gets angry and storms off to set right a problem which doesn't exist. He winds up in the wrong place and sets off a chain of events which is supposed to yield comedy. He declares "victory" over the non-existent problem and finds another problem caused by his quixotic adventures earlier and the cycle continues.
That's it in a nutshell. Often, Jim Backus can make things better with his characterizations and sometimes some of the gags lift up a marginal plot. A bit of both saves this from being a lump. Some of the gags involving the newspaper printing machines are good and Backus does his usual job here to make Magoo more engaging. But there's a problem when the biggest laugh is the end joke.
The Magoo theatricals are now on DVD in a box set from Shout! Factory, which includes all the Magoo theatrical shorts and a Magoo feature film. The set is excellent and this short is cute in spots.
Mister Magoo cartoons are one trick ponies. They all arise from Magoo's difficulties in seeing things clearly. So each short rises or falls based on just how well the story is written or how clever and amusing the gags are. Some of them are great (Magoo's Puddle Jumper, for example) and some are just horrible. The majority are neither exceptional nor total wastes of pen and ink. This is one of that majority.
The basic story can be summed up as follows: Magoo misreads something, gets angry and storms off to set right a problem which doesn't exist. He winds up in the wrong place and sets off a chain of events which is supposed to yield comedy. He declares "victory" over the non-existent problem and finds another problem caused by his quixotic adventures earlier and the cycle continues.
That's it in a nutshell. Often, Jim Backus can make things better with his characterizations and sometimes some of the gags lift up a marginal plot. A bit of both saves this from being a lump. Some of the gags involving the newspaper printing machines are good and Backus does his usual job here to make Magoo more engaging. But there's a problem when the biggest laugh is the end joke.
The Magoo theatricals are now on DVD in a box set from Shout! Factory, which includes all the Magoo theatrical shorts and a Magoo feature film. The set is excellent and this short is cute in spots.
