Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Back when "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines" debuted, I was a fan. I'd enjoyed the two in "The Wacky Racers" and so it was natural I'd watch this spin-off. And, for a five year-old, it was enjoyable. Several decades later, the show was shown on the Boomerang Channel and I decided to give it a watch for nostalgia's sake. And, to my moderate surprise, the show was absolutely terrible. A horribly low cel count (common in the poorly animated 1960s and 70s that was dominated by Hanna-Barbera), completely one-dimensional characters and terrible writing (with very repetitive and flimsy plots involving catching a stupid pigeon...PERIOD) made it an absolute chore to watch. After a few episodes, I swore I'd never see this abomination again! So why do I think I liked it to back in the old days? Much of it simply was because bad writing and low cel counts were the norm for 1969. Now, with the improvement in the quality of cartoons, it's obvious when you watch any of the old shows of 1969 that they simply don't stack up with the recent offerings by Nickelodeon or the old classic Looney Tunes shorts. And, I assume with kids today seeing better quality cartoons, that they, too, would be a bit bored by this Dastardly cartoon.

Does anybody else have Zilly as their favorite from this show? I'm not even starting to talk about the other characters. Others have already done that, and no other character is nearly as interesting as Zilly to me. Zilly is, of course, the coward of the show, so how he ended up as a pilot is beyond me. But he has somehow learned how to fly an airplane, so I guess that got him the job somehow. He often tries to run away from the tasks his boss Dick Dastardly puts him up too. The dog Mutley then has to make him do what he's supposed to do anyway by chasing him and bringing him back before he can get away. He often says things like "Oh dear!" and "Oh my!", when he thinks something is going to be dangerous. He's the only one to understand what Klunk says, and he has to be a translator. It is never explained why he can understand Klunk, while no one else can. I have suspected, that they somehow grew up together, and that they know each other from childhood, and that's why Zilly understands him. Well, that's it. Except that no one has mentioned the general. He's so funny, even though we don't ever see anything more of him than his hand. He often calls Dick Dastardly and his men on a phone, and we hear his angry voice on the other side of the line.

When I was younger I used to love watching Dick Dastardly and Muttley in Wacky Races. Then they did another show called Flying Machines which was nearly the same good entertainment. It is World War II and a carrier pigeon is flying with important messages to go to the good side. It is Dastardly and Muttley's job (as the bad side) to catch this pigeon to stop it delivering these messages. They are accompanied in their planes by two amusing characters called Klunk, a gibberish talking inventor, and Zilly, a squeamish translator of Klunk and never brave. Opening with a good theme song, this is a good cartoon when I was younger. Good!

Dastardly and Muttley was downright silly but that was exactly the reason why it was compelling viewing.It was set during the First World War. Dick Dastardly was piloting a heap of junk aided by his dog Muttley and they tried to stop the pigeon flying his messages to Uncle Sam. Of course, you can guess that they never succeeded in much the sam way as Wile E. Coyote never managed to catch Road Runner.It was a spin-off from Wacky Races and it was highly amusing and totally watchable. Call me sad but it was compelling viewing and I just loved the sound of Muttley's laugh.Stop The Pigeon!