Farm Frolics Review

Farm Frolics is a 1941 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is a very typical short.

This is another one of those archetypal spot-gag Merry Melodies, this time focusing on the farm and its animals. The animation is solid and I found some gags pretty good such as the mouse gag which is very truthful and the last pig gag which is also realistic and fun. However, the others are pretty much forgettable and not all that inspired.

What continues to bug me with this type of cartoons is the obsession with radio personalities as we again see them parodied here. The same jokes are repeated throughout and for modern viewers they never did work in the first place. I am also getting frustrated with this yelling of cute animals which turns out to be of a strong adult male. That gag is overly used by now and, though great at first, now it’s rather frustrating.

Farm Frolics has its good gags and solid animation, but it relies too much on similar jokes and voices.