Ko-Ko Explores (1927) User Reviews

Max Loses His Head

[boblipton · 7/10 · 1 March 2014]

Koko and Fitz are sitting around bored while Max writes the day's scenario. When one of the cannibals he is writing about steals Max' head, it's up to our intrepid hero to rescue the boss, who doesn't know how to do things without his top.

Fleischer's Koko series was neck and neck for the best silent cartoon series, and this is a typically excellent effort, shunting back and forth between the wacky world of cartoons, whose logic infects the real world and the world in which Max lives. The jokes are sharp and the logic, once you accept the thesis, is impeccable. Modern viewers may have some issues with the Black cannibals, but once you get past them, it's all good.

A fun exploration

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 8 February 2018]

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Fleischer may not be at his very finest with 'Ko-Ko Explores' and 'Ko-Ko Explores' may not be quite one of his gems. For so early on though, like most Ko-Ko cartoons, it is mighty impressive and one doesn't expect material this wild and entertaining at this stage in animation history when much later cartoons didn't do it as well, with a fair share of obvious exceptions.

Not unexpectedly, 'Ko-Ko Explores' is pretty light on plot and not everybody is going to take kindly to the portrayal of the cannibals. Other than those, there is nothing else to complain about with everything else done very well indeed.

One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, the animation is surprisingly pretty good with some nice visual wackiness and wit. Much of 'Ko-Ko Explores' is lively and with a wonderfully bizarre and sharp sense of humour, even for early Fleischer, and inventiveness.

Everything with Max is a lot of fun and imaginatively done, while the logic is not hard at all to take at face value. Ko-Ko as always is amiable and amusing.

In conclusion, impressive early effort for Fleischer while not a career high point. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Amazingly clever...though it might also offend.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 May 2020]

"Ko-Ko Explores" is another wonderful cartoon from the Fleischer Brothers. During the 1919-1929 period, this character was the star of many films in which this lovable cartoon rogue would enter the real world and interact with director, Max Fleischer.

Soon after the film begins, a headhunter arrives from out of no where and steals Max's head! Seeing the headless Max thrashing about was pretty funny...and soon Koko and Fitz are sent to retrieve the boss' head! All sorts of strange and funny nonsense ensues!

This is a very funny cartoon and I loved seeing the headless Max! However, I must warn you that the headhunters are drawn in a fashion that will certainly offend some viewers. Regardless, however, it's a fine and funny cartoon that has otherwise aged well and is worth seeing.

Exceptional Koko short, very unusual even for the series

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 27 December 2015]

This is a cartoon in the Koko the Clown series produced by Fleischer studio. There will be spoilers ahead:

Koko the Clown was the lead character in a series which started in the silent era, though Koko made the transition into sound and also later became a supporting character in the Betty Boop series. The Koko cartoons in the 1920s were generally very good and pretty much anything could (and often did) happen.

In this one, Max is typing while Koko and Fitz are sitting around. Fitz is playing ball with his own nose! Koko asks Max what they'd be doing today and Max tells him he's working on a scenario with cannibal head-hunters, which shakes the pair up considerably. A cannibal rises up from a globe and takes Max's head. His body is then shown wandering around to the sounds of squawking chickens! Koko and Fitz go into the drawing to look for Max's head and the head-hunter. From this point on, the animated sequences are inter-cut with live action scenes of Max's headless body. I'm not going to spoil the gags by describing them much, because they deserve to be seen, but Koko and Fitz split up, Koko travels widely (and often involuntarily) chasing the cannibal, the pair are reunited and captured to be taken to the chief.

The gags are very good to great and can come at you from out of left field. Some of them are quite odd and very funny. The ending is very good.

This short deserves to be more widely known. Most recommended.