Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Three Lazy Mice" is an American cartoon from 1935, so this one is already easily over 80 years old and it is from the days before WWII even to show you how old it is. It's a production by Walter Lantz and even if people don't know him today like they know Disney and WB (Chuck Jones), he is still undeniably among the big names from the Golden Age of Animation. Seeing Hansen and Avery in the voice cast here, two heavyweights in terms of fame and popularity back then, especially Avery, makes obvious how progressive Lantz was at that point. This is a color cartoon of course and at almost 10 minutes certainly among the longer ones as the average at that point was somewhere between 6 and I guess. My fellow Bond lovers will enjoy the Three Blind Mice team and everybody else will enjoy the comedy. It is not very fast, but very chilly yet very entertaining with some fun moments, strong animation with cute and memorable characters and an okay moral, at least for the hard-working part of the population. Also Lantz was way ahead of his time as we see an early elaboration in here that Hanna Barbera became so successful with thanks to their Tom and Jerry cartoons a little while later. Godd for them, good for us, good for Lantz. This is among the very best cartoons from its year and if you only know a bit about these old animated short films, then you know how high their standard was around that time (mid-1930s). It's a huge compliment and I highly recommend checking this one out.
