Foney Fables Review

Foney Fables is a 1942 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is a very solid flick.

As is always the case with these spot-gag cartoons, they work so much better in the fairy tale format than when dealing with other subject matter because fairy tales are timeless and we are all still acquainted with them. That’s not to say that this film is great as it certainly isn’t because it’s rarely truly funny, at least half of the gags do not work all too well and I wished they chose more of the bigger fairy tales which I love instead of so many nursery rhymes.

But some gags definitely work such as the recurring gag with the boy crying wolf. That was very good. The World War II joke made me annoyed per usual, but I really liked the Sleeping Beauty gag as well as the old woman and the dog who was so funny in that line about food hoarding. The animation is particularly strong here – quite colorful and polished.

Foney Fables is not only very well animated, but also quite funny in some scenes. It’s uneven, but better than most other spot-gag cartoons.