Whiskers The Great

Whiskers The Great (1-33)

Written by: Brandon Sawyer

Storyboard by: Shawn Björklund and Antoine Guilbault

Directed by: Timothy Björklund

Date of Release: Summer 2005 on Disney Channel USA

Synopsis: Mr. Whiskers gains self-confidence and recognition by a bunch of little gophers when he holding a onion by become their "Mighty Root".

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. The Holidays shopping and that I add another working day on the week than on the past force me to halt the blog's activities, but things will be more out better after New Year's Eve.

It's not easy to criticizing such of a dreck show for die-hard animation fans, but that have owning lots of anticipiation for many fans, especially the Furries ones. This one is pretty tricky to discern because we'll know we're gonna have another dull, talkier and unwatchable gem but what a gem to look at!-- By be neglected and underatted at a stand-alone effort of self-confidence, done much better than anything from Wade Duck in the older U.S. Acres days.

How such things could be approved on a Disney animated work? Don't ask me for that!

A visually injured Whiskers is there start this fun and funny adventure, in which after a series of painful aftermaths, the rabbit decide to never left the Treehouse because the jungle made him scary. Brandy, like a good big sister will, insist to make work his self-confidence and going to jungle without to get in trouble. You know, the anomaly is Mr. Whiskers is much playful than concerned of the dangers that surround him and there's lots of visual painful results of mishaps that may describe the begin of this plot, though thankfully, it went down fast before to go to the meat of the story.

The fun thing about this show: When random still pictures came out at "flashbacks". A trick that will be old if the entire cartoon is only based of that. Think at Family Guy at a poor example at using flashbacks just for delivers a very gross and erratic joke!

While practicing his confidence, Whiskers is intrigued by the presence of... an onion! A MERE ONION? Whatever, it's look good. He persist to surrendered by even holding the vegetable until... a bunch of gophers creatures came to him. A yelling Whiskers says BRRAANNDYY!! for help and Brandy comes at fast as she can to rescued him until she realized it weren't that... menacing?

The others Amazon Rainforest jungles friends are nowhere to be found in this episode like says, in Lame Boy. This is the gist that I wished the show's crew does it more. Save these tangent beasts and the eagle near the end, there's just Brandy and Whiskers to came out, but all of that is done essentially without the gratuitious slapstick most comedy-buddies duos usually have. Anyone ever though seriously, except the Nickelodeon executives, that the weird series Catdog and not Spongebob Squarepants could be their next hit?

I don't ever know if I have to laugh on this one: Is Whiskers impersonate a black women cook-host or a some of awkward Edgar G. Robinson facsimilee with these lips?

Then, Whiskers realize that he become "The Mighty Root"-- a kind of prophecy to anyone holding the sacred onion. He invited all his newer friends to home, by make a onion stew. Save for this creepy face Whiskers ever doing (See how jokes of this cartoon start to be creepily incoherent?), The preparation of the meal is eventually done well while Brandy is still amazed, but also petrified that what makes Whiskers as a "Mighty Root" goes for one thing: The onion he hatched for! And that it's not so well, the kind of self-confidence he need to own and not earned.

As usual, we have a formulaic bunch of sequences of Whiskers and his gophers make use of the sacred onion by throwing it like a basebeall ball or even made a Mona Lisa artwork on a rock. So, is Whiskers have some hidden artistic skills? Such bizarre to seen a realistic painting like the famous Leonard De Vinci painting on a wacky animated cartoon! Oh well...

Brandy at her turn decide to make a onion stew by secretly using the one the rabbit grab it at happenstance. It's there the test of self-confidence really going to start. After eating the stew, Whiskers start to be freakly out of control by even have some hallucinations of everything he seen by may cause his own fears and anxiety of anything. There is a very fun visual of the gophers when the camera moved them in very stoned way. Not at novel or stylish like the same kind of stretched sequence was in WBs Greetings, Bait!, but enough for make me a chuckle.

For once, Brandy was rather optimistic to help her bunny friend to gains confidence and make organized the ceremony for be "The Mighty Root" by grab another mere onion. Whiskers can't just be more hysterical to have it by follow the troop. But sadly, because it was a PAL master of this cartoon, the Brandy's head shot was badly butchered with ink lines that are much uglier than it ever need. That was few times before technology would evolved the way animated productions will be made.

Now that Whiskers became, you know, an eagle faced to the air and when he will losing his confidence by decide to fight it back, onion or not. That make the episode so fun to watch and the climatic scene even inspired someone years ago to made a fanart based of this battle.

Sure, he will win by default, but one have to feels sorry for the eagle who only wanted to catch his prey, by be heavily sobbed by the onion in his beak. An aftermath result of the eagle that is more tough to watch and that the short ended the same way as it begins, that Whiskers been chased by a warthog, proving that he didn't won his self-confidence by his own sense of bravery. Thankfully, it didn't reached the same kind of faux-bravery that have hung the character of Wade Duck (Voiced by the very talented Howard Morris. We miss him.) from a coward duck to a very smarmy "heroic" duck. The begin and ending are small gripes to what would be otherwise another perfect and entertaining Brandy & Mr. Whiskers cartoon.

Critique:

In the wake where everything going to business as usual after the long Christmas adventure, the crew handling some very interesting gems like Trouble In Store and also lesser duds like Radio Free Bunny, Freaky Tuesday and The Brain of My Existence-- which results Whiskers The Great at one of the most tolerable and entertaining late cartoons episode of the first season. A visually painful injured Whiskers make the prologue more harder to watch (Whiskers' head be half-burried, etc.) but thankfully it was saved by a plot that deals with self-confidence and insurance in which Mr. Whiskers came "The Mighty Root" by holding a mere onion out of the ground. The happenstance of all that is what make them a joy to watch. Here, Whiskers is not dumb, neither stupid. And Brandy is not snooty or clueless of everything plotted against her. This is what working best when you only put them together in the same cartoon. It gives a fresh sense of suspense and adventure that those that featuring the others Jungle friends wouldn't. When Whiskers eating the onion stew he just grab it, it was for Björklund a rare opportunity to excel the oft-generic artstyle of the show to a much stylized and artistic one when the rabbit getting in a psychotic nerve to lost his powers. It's the anti-Wade Duck, which the mallard's cowardice and fears seems to be done by people who never knew the tough challenge of those who living with such anxiety conditions strike for. And of course, we get a heroic finale in which Whiskers fight an eagle by a mere onion grabbed by Brandy and without the feeling that the eagle is dead or painfully injured--just sobbed and weak of its aftermath. The cartoon end like the way it had begins (Whiskers been chased by a warthog) makes it at one very overlooked, but genuine effort with a touch of uniqueness and humor, something the Disney's show rarely will make it again.