Porky's Picnic (1939) User Reviews

Starts Strong, But Not Much To It Overall

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 3 June 2007]

Porky Pig, the most popular of Looney Tunes characters of the 1930s, is racing along on his motorbike and tells us, the audience, he's going on a picnic with his girlfriend, "P-P-P-P-P- P-Petunia." (Easier done than said.)

There were a bunch of good sight gags in this black-and-white animated short but only at the beginning when Porky goes to ask his girlfriend if she wants to go the park for a picnic. Things such as combing his bald head, the doorbell in which a hand comes out and knocks, little Pinky's baby chair, etc.

Pinky is a little baby that Petunia left behind. Huh? Well, the little tyke catches up and joins them and then creates havoc. This kid must be from the Devil. He's brutal! Porky has to wind up saving him from wild animals in the nearby zoo. Actually, the animals are in danger with this sadistic kid!

This winds up being one of those cartoons in which you say, "Huh? That's it?" when it's over.

This Warner Bros. warning cartoon begs the question . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 25 April 2017]

. . . "What horrible disaster will befall America on May 15, 2017?" During PORKY'S PICNIC the title pig represents We the American Majority of Loyal Normal True Blue Average Patriotic 99 Per Center Union Label Citizens. Warner's always prophetic Animated Short Seers (aka, The Looney Tuners) represent the Deplorable alleged U.S. President #45 Rump as the immature anarchist juvenile sawed off Oinker runt Pinky Pig. Reflecting Rump manipulator Steve Bannon's pledge to "drown (the Institutions of Our U.S. Government) in the bathtub" of nihilistic sabotage, Pinky attacks our American transportation infrastructure mid-cartoon, nearly resulting in a fatal collision with Railroad Train Engine #515 (hence, a clear reference to Our Impending Doom on May 15). Pinky's many attempts to behead one of our woodsy squirrel friends with an over-sized pair of scissors represents the Looney Tuners' clairvoyant opinion on Rump appointing Oklahoma's Scott "The Mad Fracker" Pruitt as the villain charged with converting America's once internationally esteemed EPA into a ruinous Environmental Pollution Agency. Pinky concusses Porky multiple times with a 2 X 4, but the older woozy porcine person has NO recourse to medical services, given The Looney Tuners' uncannily accurate forecast that Rump will dismantle ObamaCare, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, and Medicare during his First 100 Days. Pinky closes out Rump's Misadventures by luring the Picnicking Porky as We the People into a World Zoo of Fantastic Beasts and through the snapping jaws of the North Korean crocodile before bedding down with the ravenous Russian Lion, Red Commie KGB Chief Vlad Putin.

I laughed...but the violence!

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 2 June 2007]

This is black and white. Porky decides to go on a picnic in the city park with his girlfriend Petunia. They leave Petunia's little brother (Pinky) asleep. But he wakes up and follows them and produces considerable mayhem.

The animation is just great, the sight gags are inventive and this moves like lightning...but (even for a cartoon) this was a bit violent. Porky was battered quite a few time with a wooden board and Pinky goes after a squirrel with a pair of scissors! I don't think this would bother kids at all but, as an adult, I found it quite violent. Still, lots of fun.

Oh...

[Op_Prime · 20 May 2000]

Well it doesn't stink, but it doesn't rock either. This short was pretty much in the middle as far as Looney Tunes shorts are concerned. There were some hilarious gags but the characters were not that interesting (even Porky). It's worth a viewing now and then, but that's it.

One brutal picnic

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 18 January 2018]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Have a good deal of respect and appreciation for Bob Clampett, more often that than not, and while not quite one of my favourite Looney Tunes characters (prefer those with consistently stronger, funnier and interesting personalities) Porky has always been very easy to like. 'Porky's Picnic' is another example of being a good representation of them both, if not among the best efforts of either.

Petunia is somewhat bland and doesn't help an awful lot to do and some of the violence is a little much. Porky is likeable and not too underused, though he doesn't have the strongest of material, while one feels sorry for the animals. Pinkie steals the show though when it comes to the characters, he is a brat and one of the most brutal ones in Looney Tunes history (perhaps even animation) but he is also hilarious and not a hard character to forget.

By Clampett standards, 'Porky's Picnic' is one of his most anarchic and wackiest late 1930s cartoons. This is meant in a good way, this was his style which didn't always come through enough in his early pre-peak cartoons but 'Porky's Picnic' showed that he had it in him early on.

Mel Blanc is outstanding as always. He always was the infinitely more preferable voice for Porky, Joe Dougherty never clicked with me, and he proves it here. Blanc shows an unequalled versatility and ability to bring an individual personality to every one of his multiple characters in a vast majority of his work, there is no wonder why he was in such high demand as a voice actor. Bernice Hansen is also excellent with even more to do than Blanc.

Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail, plus it is very imaginative. Ever the master, Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Even though violent and brutal as heck, 'Porky's Picnic' is lightning-speed energetic that one completely forgets the slightness of the story, and is also incredibly inventively timed and hilarious. The funniest and most interesting material comes from Pinkie by far.

In conclusion, brutal but incredibly well made and so much fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox