Little Red Rodent Hood (1952)

Perhaps not the best one, not being the funniest, sharpest or wittiest, but still very enjoyable and clever with a lot to like about it. Although it is not up there with the best of Looney Tunes, there is not much to complain about.The best things about 'Little Red Rodent Hood' are the animation, music and voice acting. The animation is bright and colourful as well as beautifully and smoothly drawn with lots of meticulous detail.Carl Stalling's music score is lushly orchestrated, bursting with energy and character and is not only dynamic with the action but enhances it. Also consistently superb is the voice acting from Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet, especially from the ever exuberant and versatile Blanc.'Little Red Rodent Hood' is not the funniest or wittiest of the cartoons based on the 'Little Red Riding Hood' story, but it is very energetically paced and clever. The gags are still funny, if not exactly hilarious, and timed well, Sylvester bagging all the best moments. Love the little moments too.Teeny is adorable, without being too cutesy and is never obnoxious. The funnier and more interesting character is Sylvester in the wolf role, and he is a suitable threat while bringing great humour but being written in a way that we feel sorry for him as well. The two have good chemistry together, important in this story.In conclusion, very enjoyable if not among the best of Looney Tunes. 8/10 Bethany Cox

. . . historians generally agree that Ronald Reagan mostly sat in bed watching old shorts and movies all day (occasionally attending a State Dinner), as First Lady Nancy and her astrologers ruled America. Though the Foundations of all of Today's Troubles were laid during these seven years, Americans at the time were content to Mortgage Our Future, prattling "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Therefore, one cannot get a grasp of the Eighties without studying the vintage film fare likely on the Leader of the Film World's plate, such as LITTLE RED RODENT HOOD. Since Leading Man Reagan always was saying Folksie Bon Mots such as "Sufferin' Succotash," it's clear that he would identify with Sylvester Cat in RODENT HOOD. The fact that Sylvester gets blown up several times here suggests that Top-Billed Reagan saw RODENT HOOD around the time that several hundred U.S. Marines were blown up as they slept in their Beirut Barracks. Until now, no one has been able to explain why Bonzo Buddy Reagan's response to this Beirut attack was to invade a tiny, defenseless island half a world away called Grenada the following week. But Screen Actors Guild President Reagan no doubt noticed that Teeny Mouse built a working tank from the contents of LITTLE RED RODENT HOOD's picnic basket. What more of a warrant does an Actor-in-Chief need to attack Teeny Grenada?

I have to say: almost every cartoon I have seen which was a takeoff on the famous "Little Red Riding Hood" tale has been very clever and funny.....and this one is no exception.Instead of the usual cast of characters, we have "Teeny," the little mouse playing "Red" and Sylvester The Cat playing the big, bad wolf. The action takes place inside house, not in a forest, but the artists make the interior almost look like a forest. So, not only is the story humorous and pretty smart, but so is the artwork which really looks gorgeous with this Golden Collection Volume 5 "restored" version.As good as this looks, though, it's still the jokes that make this such a winner. A lot of kids wouldn't get some of wise-guy humor, which is definitely geared toward making adults laugh, and some of it is topical, too, for anyone familiar with the early '50s."Red" was a wise-guy little rodent and Sylvester, was...well, Sylvester, who usually is pretty entertaining. I think Looney Tunes hit its peak in this period (1948-1954) with incredibly good material, and this cartoon is a prime example of good they were at this time.

OK, so fairy tales and bedtime stories are some of the easiest to make fun of, and "Little Red Riding Hood" may be at the top of the list. Before "Little Red Rodent Hood", the Termite Terrace crowd had already made "Little Red Riding Rabbit", and they later made "Red Riding Hoodwinked". This one portrays a mouse's grandmother telling him the famous story, and the mouse imagines it with himself as Red and Sylvester as the wolf. You can probably guess what sorts of things he does to Sylvester; naturally one trick involves dynamite (they loved their TNT, didn't they?).So, this is far from the best Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon; having seen "Duck Amuck" and "What's Opera, Doc?", I expect really clever, high quality from them. But it's OK in a pinch. Currently available on the Looney Tunes website.Yeah, nobody whistles Dixie anymore.