Review of The Puppetoon Movie (1987) by Bobby D — 20 Feb 2012

The film is a collection of George Pal short films sewn together in 1987 and book ended by Gumby and friends and the film feels like a vain attempt by Georeg Pal fans to save his work from obscurity in an ever changing world.

Not that, that is a bad thing because his stop animation is ground breaking and his story telling is superb and he definetely has his own style, but some modern viewers might be puzzled by the 1930ish stereotypes employed in the film.

Pal was Danish so his perspective is that of a European on Americana culture, and everyone is caracterized (even sections of suggested sexuality. 70 years beforeTeam America, puppets having sex.) 2 things I noticed was he was apparently a big fan of Harlem style Jazz (which was huge in Europe) and he did a remarkable portait of the story of John Henry and dumped the usual cartoonish sterotypes he usually employed and made a serious attempt at a heroic telling of Henry's doomed contest against mechanized Inky poo.