Here we have an 8-minute cartoon by Tex Avery early in his career. He was actually not even 30 when he made this and he also also appeared as a voice actor and co-wrote the script. Three writers for this runtime is quite a lot. It is a Schlesinger Studios production and got released by (Vitaphone) Warner Bros. Even without the inclusion of Bugs, Daffy and the rest, you find this as part of Looney Tunes compilations. The animal characters are owls this time, not too common in the world of animation and cartoons, but an animal species I do indeed like quite a lot. Father Owl is a renowned classical musician and is delighted to see baby owls with talent for opera, violin and flute see the light of day and let me add that I found it interesting how they mentioned musicians these young birds resembled in terms of their talent. Anyway, what a family really with every single birdy being so gifted apparently. However, owl number 4 seems to have a talent for jazz and no teaching lessons in more traditional singing make a difference. So his father chases him out of the house. Really over the top, mother Owl is right, even if I am still surprised why she looks unhappy initially despite all these eggs below her. How could she not recognize? But yeah, back to the story: After the different kid left his family, everything goes as expected: the little owl shows up at a talent show and impresses the juror so much that he gets first prize. Father Owl comes to the event too with the rest of the family and everybody bonds again and the little owl is allowed back into the family. I do not really see how the owl is so more talented than the other contestants there, one major issue I have with the story and this is really the core of it. I mean his tune is alright and kinda catchy, but does get annoying too at some point when you hear it too often. The voice is nothing special I would say and I also don't see great qualities as an entertainer when it comes to this little owl.
I would like to give out a mention to Tommy Bond, a truly prolific (child) actor back in the day who voices the main character here and died early in the new millennium, not a long time after he acted in one final film after a break of over 30 years, so his final performance came almost 70 years after his voice acting for this cartoon here. In 1936 he turned 10 and he is probably most known for his role in the Superman movies after World War II. Other than Bond, you will find voice actors in here that had extremely prolific careers back then during the Golden Age of Animation. I will spare you the names now as you can check out the cast list yourself. Probably it is a longer list than you expected to see. At least it was for me. Before the review ends, let us also have a quick look at the cartoon's technical aspects: It can be said that the animation is fine for almost 80 years ago, the music is okay, sound in general, and the story isn't bad either, but very generic. Yet there is nothing somewhat impressive or surprising in this short film and it just vanishes into the mass of cartoons made in the 1930s and 1940s. Nothing stands out here except the pretty amazing colors to some extent perhaps and the funniest moment perhaps when the hen is too chubby to fall into the hole for the rejected and the hare has to use his hammer to make it happen. That was surely on the hilarious side, also how daddy starts singing jazz towards the end was nice. To me, he was more interesting than his son. By the way, if that one was called Owl, then what were his siblings' names. Or did they all have the same first name and differing last names? Anyway, I think that overall it is a thumbs-down for me and I am not surprised that these owl characters did not get featured again in other Warner Bros cartoons. Not recommended. Avery certainly got better with age.
I would like to give out a mention to Tommy Bond, a truly prolific (child) actor back in the day who voices the main character here and died early in the new millennium, not a long time after he acted in one final film after a break of over 30 years, so his final performance came almost 70 years after his voice acting for this cartoon here. In 1936 he turned 10 and he is probably most known for his role in the Superman movies after World War II. Other than Bond, you will find voice actors in here that had extremely prolific careers back then during the Golden Age of Animation. I will spare you the names now as you can check out the cast list yourself. Probably it is a longer list than you expected to see. At least it was for me. Before the review ends, let us also have a quick look at the cartoon's technical aspects: It can be said that the animation is fine for almost 80 years ago, the music is okay, sound in general, and the story isn't bad either, but very generic. Yet there is nothing somewhat impressive or surprising in this short film and it just vanishes into the mass of cartoons made in the 1930s and 1940s. Nothing stands out here except the pretty amazing colors to some extent perhaps and the funniest moment perhaps when the hen is too chubby to fall into the hole for the rejected and the hare has to use his hammer to make it happen. That was surely on the hilarious side, also how daddy starts singing jazz towards the end was nice. To me, he was more interesting than his son. By the way, if that one was called Owl, then what were his siblings' names. Or did they all have the same first name and differing last names? Anyway, I think that overall it is a thumbs-down for me and I am not surprised that these owl characters did not get featured again in other Warner Bros cartoons. Not recommended. Avery certainly got better with age.