Rocket-bye Baby (1956)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

. . . is why the phrase "Dog gone it!" perversely resonates with Believers, but what happens to the "boy" when you play the White Album in reverse? This is exactly what the Looney Tuners speculate about during the 1950s Warner Bros. animated short ROCKET-BYE BABY. It must have tickled the Old Gang's Funny Bones to draw Mrs. Joe (Martha) Wilbur as one of the three most buxom chicks in Classic Cartoon History, since Mork--Er, make that "Mot"--sports the sort of pointy antennae that would have punctured Martha's Hot Stack Implants every feeding time. That's assuming that the young Martian turned out to be a "Bon Mot" (or "good boy") when it was nursing hour, and not some sort of interstellar Freddie Kruger. Since the Martian Authorities named the actual Wilbur offspring "Yob" (which is "Boy" reversed), their message seems to be that Master Wilbur will be a dimmer bulb than the Wilburs' nag, Mr. Ed, whom passed away in the midst of the Microencephallic Olympic Year, 2016. So welcome to the Big Leagues, Mot.

Maybe the repeated line "Yob! Yob! Where's my Yob?" gets a little tiring and less funny eventually, that aside Rocket-Bye Baby is excellent. It looks great, the stylised look is coloured strikingly and drawn with a wacky elegance that is in keeping with the tone and Chuck Jones' style. The standout here was the facial expressions of the characters, beautifully done and often priceless. The music is energetic and characterful, more importantly it fits with what we see in the animation and goes even further in enhancing the fun factor. The writing is fresh and witty, but in a way that is natural in alternative to forced, and the gags are very imaginative and cleverly staged. The chase sequence and the one with the elderly lady's using a harmoniser to get her scream right were particularly well done. The characters are not iconic but work excellently in their own way, the father is the best character while the baby is cute without being in a sickly way. The mother doesn't get much to do though. The voice acting is wonderful, there's no Mel Blanc but Rocket-Bye Baby doesn't suffer from that seeing as Daws Butler and June Foray are just as talented as voice actors and do a wonderful job in their roles. To conclude, beautifully done and as a cartoon it's excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"Rocket-Bye Baby" is a good sci-fi cartoon directed by Charles M. "Chuck" Jones. It seems that a cosmic force disturbs the pathways of two infants, resulting in a martian baby winding up on Earth, and vice versa. Oh, what fun this situation can create! My favorite scenes: The most memorably hilarious spoken line in this short occurs when Mr. Wilbur (voiced by Daws Butler) sees his martian baby for the first time and softly says, "Somebody goofed." Equally hilarious is the elderly lady (voiced by June Foray) who wishes to see the baby (to the musical accompaniment of "Ain't She Sweet"), then upon discovering that the baby is not normal, she offers a subtle sideways glance, blows on a pitch pipe, and screams while her bobby pins fly out of her hair."Rocket-Bye Baby" raises an interesting question: How would YOU react to a cosmic mix-up in the deliverance of your baby?

Chuck Jones's 'Rocket-Bye Baby' is an example of the "domestic" cartoons of the late 50s and 60s but with a sci-fi twist. Beginning with the strange concept that a cosmic disturbance resulted in an Earth baby being delivered to Mars and vice versa, 'Rocket-Bye Baby' never really finds its feet. Sharing more in tone with campy sitcoms like 'Bewitched' than with the average Warner Bros. cartoon, 'Rocket-Bye Baby' follows the progress of the Martian baby and his bewildered parents. Jones makes a wise decision in opting for the highly stylised animation which reflects the strangeness of the plot but, while there's the odd amusing moment, 'Rocket-Bye Baby' is largely caught between unfunny sitcom and self-conscious cartoon. An interesting but not especially memorable short which hasn't quite worked out the logic of its own universe.