User Reviews

Generally am not a fan of the character of Baby Huey, a rather one-joke character and especially in his later Famous Studios cartoons annoying. When it comes to Famous Studios' cartoons, there is a general preference for the Popeye, Casper and even Herman and Katnip cartoons (although they all had not so great cartoons in their later years).

'Party Smarty' is a good example of why generally Baby Huey doesn't do it for me. Tolerated him in his debut cartoon 'Quack a Doodle Do', thanks to attempts of a story that was easy in a way to empathise with, and 'One Quack Mind' had a few amusing moments if more from the fox than Baby Huey. Here though in 'Party Smarty' what was amusing at first has now gotten very old and this is only the third of twelve cartoons.

There are good things here. The animation is mostly rich and colourful, with very meticulous and beautifully drawn backgrounds, even if some the drawing lacks finesse in parts. The voice acting is good from Sid Raymond, Mae Questel and Jackson Beck, though Jack Mercer is a bit too gangster-like for such cute looking ducklings. The fox is an amusing and interesting villain character, and the most rootable character in the cartoon ironically.

Winston Sharples provides yet another outstanding music score, even in mediocre or worse cartoons Sharples' music was never among the flaws (if anything always one of the strengths or the best asset). Also love the lusciousness of the orchestration here and how characterful, haunting and whimsical the music was without going overboard in either, even better was how well it fitted in the cartoon and how it merged with the action.

However a large part of 'Party Smarty's' problem is Baby Huey himself. There is less of the big heart and good intentions that made him tolerable in his debut cartoon 'Quack a Doodle Do' and even more of the stupidity and dim-wittedness, he is annoying here and to be honest found myself rooting for the fox, a more interesting and funnier character.

Dialogue is simplistic and forgettable at best, and the story is very predictable with not even the interplay between Baby Huey and the fox igniting any sparkle. The gags are very pedestrian and repetitive, and manage to take the fun out of the violence, laying it on too heavy with the execution and pacing it too literally. Consequently, the violence is more mean-spirited more than it is well-engineered or fun.

All in all, mediocre and a worrying sign of a series of cartoons running out of ideas so quickly. 4/10 Bethany Cox