A Sunbonnet Blue (1937) Poster

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7/10
Has enough to wash any blues away
TheLittleSongbird11 May 2018
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Tex Avery was one of the greatest and most influential animation directors there ever was, with a unique visual and humour style and his best work saw some ahead of its time content. 'A Sunbonnet Blue' ' is not one of his best efforts, it's worth watching, it's well made and it's far from bad, but it is not demonstrative of what made him so great and influential. His work here is competent but it is pretty tame by Avery standards. and atypically "cute".

'A Subonnet Blue's' story is predictable and has nothing special and not quite enough to make it all the way through fun and emotionally investable. The cartoon is amusing enough, but there is little hilarious or imaginative.

However, the animation ranges from good to excellent. It's fluid in movement, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail. Most of the pace is lively and the content is charming, amusing and well-timed if with not quite enough to go the extra mile.

Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The characters are likeable and their personalities work well individually and together. Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher, and Avery himself, provide typically expertly vocal contributions.

In conclusion, worth watching but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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6/10
Hat's all, folks
lee_eisenberg26 March 2010
Tex Avery wasn't usually one to portray "cuteness". "A Sunbonnet Blue" was the closest that he came to it. The cartoon depicts a hat store where a bunch of mice spend the night partying. A boy mouse and girl mouse are trying to get romantic, but a goon mouse steals her, and the boy mouse gets the rest of his brethren to help him rescue her.

The main clues that this is Tex Avery are the occasional spot gags relating to the hats. There's also some topical humor (the Rats brothers, which is a parody of the Ritz brothers). I noticed that they include the song "I Haven't Got a Hat", which was most famously used in Porky Pig's debut.

So, it's an OK cartoon. Nothing that I would highly recommend, but not bad.

PS: This was the final Merrie Melodie that used stock music during the end title. After this, they always used "Merrily We Roll Along".
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2/10
A step backward for Looney Tunes.
planktonrules5 December 2021
In the early days of Looney Tunes cartoons, the studio seemed obsessed with super-cutesy cartoons and singing. Fortunately, as the 1930s progressed, they made less and less of these sacchariney cartoons and began to emphasize humor...something decidedly missing in the early shorts. Unfortunately, somehow "A Sunbonnet Blue" managed to get made in 1937...an otherwise decent year for the studio.

As you'd guess, this cartoon features ultra-cutesy mice and lots of singing....and is therefore pretty boring compared to other shorts of the day.

The story involves some cute mice, two in particular who are in love, and an evil green rat who wants to do them harm. Eventually, the hero rat manages to summon help and all is well again in this hat shop filled with swell mice.

The only thing I really liked about this one was the nice color animation. Otherwise, it pretty much is everything I hated as a child in a cartoon.
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8/10
Atypically sweet and cutesy Tex Avery
llltdesq20 January 2002
This short is a somewhat cute and cuddly early Tex Avery short. Not typical of his later work, although there are flashes of his standard sight gags here and there. Good cartoon, if not a "normal" (in other words, antic and screwy) Avery effort. Well worth watching. Recommended.
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