3 reviews
Decent First Entry in the Roland & Rattfink Series
- Zantara Xenophobe
- May 8, 2011
- Permalink
Roland and Rattfink at war
Am somewhat mixed and perhaps even conflicted on the Roland and Rattfink series, some of the cartoons are more amusing and more confident than others and while the two titular characters are pleasant enough they are on the generic side and not always consistent. None of the cartoons are animation classics. None are terrible necessarily either. They are good for curiosity value, but are not essential and the studio did do better theatrical series.
The series began with 1968's 'Hawks and Doves'. And it is not too bad a start, relatively promising in my view and it establishes the tone of the series reasonably well. It did though have a very finding its feet and not completely sure what direction to take feel, some components are confidently done while others are a bit unsettled. 'Hawks and Doves' doesn't see the two characters at their fullest potential, it doesn't disgrace them either. Ranking it, it's neither one of the best or worst Roland and Rattfink cartoons.
Will start with 'Hawks and Doves' good things. Did think that the animation had its charm, am not going to say that it's great as other DePatie-Freleng Enterprises cartoons are far smoother and detailed in the drawing but the vividly rich colours (a lot of very striking blue), expressions/reactions and stylised backgrounds are pleasing. The music, from the catchy opening theme (the studio were very good on this front), has a light-hearted quality that does endear and didn't feel jarring. There are moments that amuse, the final third being the highlight in this regard as it is agreed funny. The sky scenes are handled with a good deal of energy.
Both Roland and Rattfink are handled quite well, though their material here is a long way from being their meatiest. They are somewhat generic but Roland, who has more and better material, especially is a long way from bland. Did like his failed good intentions at the beginning, though will say that Rattfink gels more in the war setting somehow. Lennie Weinrib does a very nice job with the voice acting, namely for Roland.
'Hawks and Doves' though is quite weak in the story. Not just being far too thin for the short duration and being very predictable, but despite having one of the series' more logical themes/concepts with its riffing on WW1 films this is taken too seriously that too much of the cartoon forgets to be fun. The pace is a mixed bag, getting more confident and tighter by the final third but for my tastes 'Hawks and Doves' takes far too long to get going, it didn't need to set things up as much as it did.
Do think that the dialogue is quite corny and pretty flat, it also doesn't stand out in the same way for example The Inspector's mumblings and irony or the Aardvark's breaking the fourth wall and witticisms. While his character is quite well established, Rattfink has far too little to do with almost all his material being reactions.
In conclusion, not a bad start but not an exceptional one either. 6/10
The series began with 1968's 'Hawks and Doves'. And it is not too bad a start, relatively promising in my view and it establishes the tone of the series reasonably well. It did though have a very finding its feet and not completely sure what direction to take feel, some components are confidently done while others are a bit unsettled. 'Hawks and Doves' doesn't see the two characters at their fullest potential, it doesn't disgrace them either. Ranking it, it's neither one of the best or worst Roland and Rattfink cartoons.
Will start with 'Hawks and Doves' good things. Did think that the animation had its charm, am not going to say that it's great as other DePatie-Freleng Enterprises cartoons are far smoother and detailed in the drawing but the vividly rich colours (a lot of very striking blue), expressions/reactions and stylised backgrounds are pleasing. The music, from the catchy opening theme (the studio were very good on this front), has a light-hearted quality that does endear and didn't feel jarring. There are moments that amuse, the final third being the highlight in this regard as it is agreed funny. The sky scenes are handled with a good deal of energy.
Both Roland and Rattfink are handled quite well, though their material here is a long way from being their meatiest. They are somewhat generic but Roland, who has more and better material, especially is a long way from bland. Did like his failed good intentions at the beginning, though will say that Rattfink gels more in the war setting somehow. Lennie Weinrib does a very nice job with the voice acting, namely for Roland.
'Hawks and Doves' though is quite weak in the story. Not just being far too thin for the short duration and being very predictable, but despite having one of the series' more logical themes/concepts with its riffing on WW1 films this is taken too seriously that too much of the cartoon forgets to be fun. The pace is a mixed bag, getting more confident and tighter by the final third but for my tastes 'Hawks and Doves' takes far too long to get going, it didn't need to set things up as much as it did.
Do think that the dialogue is quite corny and pretty flat, it also doesn't stand out in the same way for example The Inspector's mumblings and irony or the Aardvark's breaking the fourth wall and witticisms. While his character is quite well established, Rattfink has far too little to do with almost all his material being reactions.
In conclusion, not a bad start but not an exceptional one either. 6/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Aug 18, 2020
- Permalink
Give Tax a Chance
I watch a lot of Pink Panther so leaking into the contemporary works of Pratt felt like a natural place to spill into but Roland and Rattfink is not it. A heavy-handed bit of 1960s satire which tries to augment the usual funny set-pieces with some arch commentary. The aerial combat stuff that this first one is built around works fairly well but the need to hitch a kind of moralizing gag on the end really undermines whatever "out-of-sight-man" point they were trying to make. There were seventeen of these made in all and nothing about this first one makes me keen to pursue the rest of it. Yikes.
- owen-watts
- Sep 26, 2024
- Permalink