Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Disappointment for a huge fan!

A Disappointing Continuation

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

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.'Hollywood Canine Canteen' is one of Robert McKimson's more interesting early, and overall even, cartoons. It may not be McKimson at his very finest, being made during his early years when he was still finding his style and was yet to create characters like Foghorn Leghorn, but it is very good, well made and entertaining. Can totally see where the previous reviewer is coming from with it, and agree with them actually, feeling more like a Frank Tashlin cartoon (actually mistook it for Tashlin on first viewing), the premise is familiar territory for Tashlin while being somewhat unusual for McKimson. There is really not much to criticise with 'Hollywood Canine Canteen'. Providing one doesn't mind that the cartoon is, like a lot of caricature cartoons, a series of canine caricature gags and sequences and that familiarity with the people (even if just the names) being caricatured is in order (got most of them, though a couple went over my head, so was okay on that front). Its weak point really is that there is a slight sense of McKimson still finding his feet.Although a couple went over my head (the caricatures in the snack bar sequence for instance and a few other sequences where the caricatures are unknown), being unfamiliar with them, the caricatures were so much fun to spot and the way they were caricatured was inspired. Laurel and Hardy, Leopold Stokowski, Abbott and Costello, Bing Crosby and the big band of famous musicians like Benny Goodman, to name a few. Have to love the canine names, corny but very amusing.Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The story may be predictable, but it's beautifully paced with never a dull moment and strongly structured. 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.Energy throughout is full of liveliness and the voice acting, Mel Blanc having the lion's share, is stellar. In conclusion, a lot of fun and very well done, plus interesting if still-settling-feel early effort for McKimson. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The caricature cartoon had become a staple in the late 1930's and lasted well into the late 40's. These are among the most fascinating of animation period pieces.One of McKimson's first cartoons presents an interesting take on the subject. Instead of doing straight human caricatures or anthropomorphic animals, these caricatures are presented as the pets of the Hollywood stars. The premise has multi layered references to World War II. The Hollywood Canteen was a club that offered food and entertainment for the servicemen during the war. This was the subject of a WB feature film of the same title during the war. In fact the cue that plays over the opening credits of this short, "Corns For My Country", was one of the featured songs from the feature. Certain breeds of dogs were also used in various capacities during the war. Hence, the premise of a Canteen for the war dogs.This is also an interesting cartoon for McKimson. It's believed by many fans that his first few cartoons were actually started by Tashlin. While this notion has been dis-proved, this short does not feel at all like a McKimson directed short. His visual style is all there, but the idea of the cartoon and the feel of it is definitely reminiscent of Tashlin. In my opinion, this is the only short by McKimson that feels like a Tashlin leftover. But considering that McKimson got practically all of Tashlin's unit, there were bound to be some similarities for the first several cartoons.Definitely an interesting period piece and one of the last WB cartoons of its kind from the caricature/Hollywood nightclub genre.

. . . go to Heaven, and in H0LLYWOOD CANINE CANTEEN Warner Bros.' Looney Tuners depict all of Tinseltown's "stars" as becoming mutts in the Hereafter. A person would need to be dead themselves to recognize some if any of these Doggie Versions of 1900s notables known to the Great Grandparents of Today's Millennials. Just imagine if we sent a Golden DVD out Today on a Voyager 3 Spacecraft, which included cartoon caricatures for the Pre-Corpse Versions of the Artist Once Known as Prince, along with Heath "The Joker" Ledger, Paul "Furious" Walker, Michael "Moonwalker" Jackson, Joe "Hit the showers, Jerry" Paterno, Whitney Houston, Robin Williams, Elvis himself, and so forth. Even if you tried to be more user friendly than Warner Bros. by providing names on-screen telling whom each animated H0LLYWOOD CANINE supposedly represents, would the people or aliens playing it back in a billion years really give a hoot? Merely displaying a name would not be enough to supply Viewers of the Future with any meaningful cultural context. The aliens would not be able to hear the doves crying as the Jesus Juice flowed freely amid a shower of purple rain.

Just watched this cartoon on the Hollywood Canteen DVD which I partly recognized as first watching on a local afternoon kids show called "The Buckskin Bill Show" in the late '70s. (He also had a morning show called "Buckskin Bill's Storyland" which I also watched) This one is a parody of the actual Hollywood Canteen which had various stars during World War II serving food and entertainment for soldiers around the world. Among the dog caricatures I enjoyed: Laurel & Hardy doing dishes with Stan putting the same one back, Abbott & Costello with the latter saying he's a baaaadd bow-wow, and Blondie & "Dogwood" with the latter getting a big sandwich full of bones. There are more gags that hit than miss so on that note, I highly recommend Hollywood Canine Canteen.