Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

(1975)

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

[See that date up there? That’s when this film was made. My wife requested it. That shall henceforth be present for all eternity. I know I sometimes attach it to the title of the article but that’s usually to differentiate it from similarly named movies or remakes. I agree with my wife: if one has not seen a film, the year it was made can provide some context as to the humor and modern observations. She’s a smart lady.]

My first assumption was that this was somehow related to the Cricket on the Hearth film. That one was animated by Rankin and Bass. This one is done by Chuck Jones. No relation whatsoever. What’s with these animation legends doing these cricket stories?

No matter. This was basically Forrest Gump but with animals and set during the revolutionary war. We follow the story of a cat, a cricket, and a mouse, as well as a romance between two fireflies, as they each inadvertently play an indispensable role in major historical events.

Gotta love the classic voice actors: Mel Blanc and June Foray. This is, after all, basically an extended Looney Tunes episode.

Their version of Yankee Doodle Dandy was a culmination of all the animal sounds. They really should have left the donkey out though. That thing was annoying. (That’s not an underhanded political statement, I meant it literally.)

This was a cute blatant ripppff of Ben and Me but hardly merits a 4 page essay sooooo byeeeeeee.