Really like to love many of Famous Studios' Noveltoons cartoons. If more the better made/animated with fresher material 40s ones than those from the late 50s to 60s, which was true for Famous Studios' overall output in general too. Although much of Famous Studios' 60s output is weak, the studio's work was seldom less than watchable and they never sank into the non-redeeming awful depths really.
'Madhattan Island' is one of the screen/sing along bouncing ball cartoons, not my favourite kind of cartoon admittedly when it comes to Famous Studios and didn't care for a good deal of them it has to be said regrettably. To me, it doesn't change my somewhat indifferent feeling towards the screen/sing along Famous Studios cartoons. By all means it is not awful or without redeeming merits. It is also not great, or even good. It was merely "so what".
One does not expect much of a story from this sort of cartoon, an element that is cast to the strongest of winds in the screen/sing along efforts, and all it is really in 'Madhattan Island' is a series of "travelogue" touring, sing along scenes and attempts at gags. So was slightly willing to forgive that, but the lack of any real energy and the constant blandly vanilla feel throughout made it more difficult to forgive.
There is nothing really amusing let alone funny, mildly comic is being too generous, and the material just lacks freshness. The characters don't have much personality, or ones that are compelling or easy to like and are little more than just there without much impact.
On the other hand, the animation and music save 'Madhattan Island' from being below mediocre. The best thing about it is the music, the one consistently good asset in the studio's entire output even in the average at best ones, which was not unexpected as this was the most important element to get right. The orchestration has a lot of energy and there are some truly luscious sounds throughout, on top of that the song arrangements are catchy and cleverly done. The animation was not as consistent for the studio overall, with the quality declining when the studio did but throughout the 40s to mid-50s it was a strength. As one can tell, to me it was one of the compensations here, gorgeous colours and the attention to detail in the backgrounds is worthy of admiration.
It does start off well and the ending rounds things off neatly without being overly so. The touring of all the different locations did fascinate.
Concluding, was rather indifferent to the cartoon but it is worth a one-time peek. 5/10
'Madhattan Island' is one of the screen/sing along bouncing ball cartoons, not my favourite kind of cartoon admittedly when it comes to Famous Studios and didn't care for a good deal of them it has to be said regrettably. To me, it doesn't change my somewhat indifferent feeling towards the screen/sing along Famous Studios cartoons. By all means it is not awful or without redeeming merits. It is also not great, or even good. It was merely "so what".
One does not expect much of a story from this sort of cartoon, an element that is cast to the strongest of winds in the screen/sing along efforts, and all it is really in 'Madhattan Island' is a series of "travelogue" touring, sing along scenes and attempts at gags. So was slightly willing to forgive that, but the lack of any real energy and the constant blandly vanilla feel throughout made it more difficult to forgive.
There is nothing really amusing let alone funny, mildly comic is being too generous, and the material just lacks freshness. The characters don't have much personality, or ones that are compelling or easy to like and are little more than just there without much impact.
On the other hand, the animation and music save 'Madhattan Island' from being below mediocre. The best thing about it is the music, the one consistently good asset in the studio's entire output even in the average at best ones, which was not unexpected as this was the most important element to get right. The orchestration has a lot of energy and there are some truly luscious sounds throughout, on top of that the song arrangements are catchy and cleverly done. The animation was not as consistent for the studio overall, with the quality declining when the studio did but throughout the 40s to mid-50s it was a strength. As one can tell, to me it was one of the compensations here, gorgeous colours and the attention to detail in the backgrounds is worthy of admiration.
It does start off well and the ending rounds things off neatly without being overly so. The touring of all the different locations did fascinate.
Concluding, was rather indifferent to the cartoon but it is worth a one-time peek. 5/10
