An afternoon of watching classic Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry and Roadrunner on the big silver screen at the Belfast Film Festival seemed like fun viewing but reporters from Children's Express thought otherwise.
| The coyote just made traps that never worked – it was so predictable. |
There was a general consensus among the young reviewers that the classic cartoons were predictable, violent, repetitive and lacking any firm plot. Sheena Hall, 13 thought Daffy Duck's role in You Ought To Be In Pictures "did not set any examples to children. If they see Daffy Duck hitting people with hammers maybe they would go about hitting their friends on the heads with hammers. That is not very entertaining."
Conor, 10 said the cartoons were violent although he did not share Sheena's opinion that related violence would spill out onto the streets. "I found the predictability the most annoying thing, particularly in To Beep Or Not To Beep with Road Runner," he said.
Lucas Dillon, 10 said, "it is not funny when the same thing happens over and over again, the coyote just made traps that never worked—it was so predictable."
"In What's up Doc the jokes were a bit primitive," Conor said.
For many of the reviewers, Duck Dodger In The 24 Century stood out as being quite funny after it warmed up. They said the audience remained quiet and only laughed sometimes throughout. It maybe also worth noting there were as many adults as children at the Cartoon Classics screening.
"I thought the drawings were good even though they were a bit basic—some of the characters had big heads, big bodies and big eyes," said Benen Dillon, 10.
Today's sophisticated cartoon buffs want story-line, less repetitive violence, good animation which pays attention to detail, and finally funny gags, which do not rely on a violent act to get a laugh.
"I would not have liked to have been a kid in the forties or fifties if that was the selection of cartoons. Today young people have such a wide range of cartoons that they can pick and choose - that's why we are more fussy," said Conor.
About the team
This article was produced by reporters Stephanie McCann, 13, Amanda McAteer, 12, Conor Magowan, 10, Lucas Dillon, 10, Benen Dillon, 10, Siobhan Quinn, 12, Thomas Quinn, 10. It was published at the Belfast Festival website.
