Cumulative rating:	No Ratings Posted

Associated Studio(s)

Mirisch Company

Synopsis

Characters

Dogfather (Voice: Bob Holt) Louie (II) (Voice: Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler) Pugg (Voice: Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler)

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Distributor(s)

United Artists

United States

The Dogfather

The DePatie/Freleng Collection 2

United States

The Dogfather

The DePatie/Freleng Collection 2

Running Time: 6:52

MPAA No.: 23993

MPAA Rating: G

Animation Type: Standard (Hand-drawn-Cel) Animation

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Cinematographic Format: Spherical

Color Type: Deluxe

Negative Type: 35mm

Original Country: United States

Original Language: English

Print Type: 35mm

Sound Type: Mono

Reviews and Comments

From Toadette :

This cartoon, the first in DePatie-Freleng's woeful Dogfather series, is a weak remake of Freleng's earlier "Tree for Two", and any laughs you get from this cartoon come from that cartoon. Literally, the bulk of this cartoon IS "Tree for Two", except mirrored such that much of the action takes place on the other side of the screen. There's a wildcat that's escaped from the zoo. There's the big dog slamming into the door. There's the cat, hiding in the trash can, looking at his tail as the big dog makes threats. There's the big dog getting sliced by the panther and the cat, in turn, thinking he clawed the dog. And, of course, there's the little dog proving himself superior in the end. The cat is not introduced by any genius timing on part of Freleng (I mean, how can you beat Sylvester singing "Charleston" and then stammering to it the moment he runs into the dogs?); instead, another Freleng motif is borrowed as the cat is shown using a trash can lid as a plate and placing food from the garbage on it. The animation is as limited as any of DFE's output at this point, except for a surprisingly fully-animated walk cycle on part of Pug during the first scene reused from "Tree for Two". I suppose that DFE had more money because this was the pilot. Louie is introduced in the cartoon as being a chatterbox, such that the Dogfather must pull his hat down. (The introduction is one of the few scenes that is not reused from "Tree for Two".) Yet in the end, I can't help but consider this a guilty pleasure, even though it deserves the rating I gave it. It's a feeling I get with much of DFE's output in general. For those of you who are curious to see this regurgitation for yourself, here's a horrible-quality Brazilian (and, of course, Portuguese-dubbed) print. You can briefly hear a different variation of the Dogfather theme at the beginning, in which the lyrics are spoken rather than sung, but most of the credits are cut off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7quMI9ouiew
See all comments by Toadette

From TibbyH :

Meh, it's nothing special. The Dogfather was always an anomaly of DFE theatricals. On the one hand it had some interesting concepts and above average production design, but on the other hand almost half of the shorts are inferior remakes of beloved Looney Tunes shorts and a lot of the shorts are so boring to watch. This pilot short, directed by the great Hawley Pratt, showcases this exact dichotomy. Let's get the obvious out of the way: it's a lazy remake of "Tree for Two" and barely adds anything new to distinguish itself from its source of plagiarism. With the exception of Bob Matz's scenes, the animation is pretty rudimentary and downright awful in some scenes. It's clear when watching this that the studio barely had any budget. The pacing is pretty lackluster as the cartoons kinda just painfully drags along, and the direction (unusual for a Pratt short) is uninspired and dull. It's not an especially good cartoon all things considered, but I do enjoy a few things about this pilot. First off, I adore the junkyard setting shown in the cartoon. I love how the dogs rummage around in broken down huts and city slums, or how the cars they drive have no tires and are driven by mafia dogs. The music by Dean Elliott is cheesy 70s goodness, and the voice acting is very competent (Daws Butler can make anything sound hilarious). But as the old saying goes, you can't polish a turd. You're better off watching the cartoon this is trying to be instead of this.
See all comments by TibbyH