The Pink Panther to me is one of animation's most iconic characters. DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' output was very hit and miss, or at least post-1970 it was, especially the later theatrical series. With hits such as Pink Panther and the Ant and the Aardvark, and duds such as Crazylegs Crane. For me, The Pink Panther on the whole was the studio's best theatrical series, though The Inspector and Ant and the Aardvark ones come close. It did become very variable from the mid-70s onwards, but the 60s-early 70s output contained some of the studio's best work.
'Pink Punch', the fifteenth Pink Panther cartoon, is another thoroughly enjoyable effort. It is not one of the best Pink Panther outings, and not as good as classics like 'The Pink Phink' and 'The Pink Tail Fly', and one half is better than the other. It is still a lot of fun though and a good representation of why Pink is wholly deserving of his iconic status and why his theatrical series is the most highly regarded and best known of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' theatrical series. Which is true of most of the series' early cartoons. And much more interesting than the premise sounds.
Its only major drawback is the incredibly distracting and forced canned laughter track, which was not needed at all.
Not much new here too.
However, there is a lot that 'Pink Punch' does right. The animation while stylistically simple is still very pretty to look at with elegant colours and fluid drawing in character design and background art. The music is even better, the music accompanying the cartoon and action gives everything a jazzy and lively feel while the main theme is as infectiously catchy as ever.
The gags are imaginative and very creative, the airplane one in particular, which made the strange premise still enjoyable. Pinky is still the cool, funny and likable character that we know him for and the premise and gags allow him to play to strength. The dot/asterisk is a very effective foil.
Overall, solid fun and any Pink Panther fan, once you get past the laughter track, will enjoy it at least. 8/10.
'Pink Punch', the fifteenth Pink Panther cartoon, is another thoroughly enjoyable effort. It is not one of the best Pink Panther outings, and not as good as classics like 'The Pink Phink' and 'The Pink Tail Fly', and one half is better than the other. It is still a lot of fun though and a good representation of why Pink is wholly deserving of his iconic status and why his theatrical series is the most highly regarded and best known of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' theatrical series. Which is true of most of the series' early cartoons. And much more interesting than the premise sounds.
Its only major drawback is the incredibly distracting and forced canned laughter track, which was not needed at all.
Not much new here too.
However, there is a lot that 'Pink Punch' does right. The animation while stylistically simple is still very pretty to look at with elegant colours and fluid drawing in character design and background art. The music is even better, the music accompanying the cartoon and action gives everything a jazzy and lively feel while the main theme is as infectiously catchy as ever.
The gags are imaginative and very creative, the airplane one in particular, which made the strange premise still enjoyable. Pinky is still the cool, funny and likable character that we know him for and the premise and gags allow him to play to strength. The dot/asterisk is a very effective foil.
Overall, solid fun and any Pink Panther fan, once you get past the laughter track, will enjoy it at least. 8/10.
