Porky in Wackyland (1938)

Why so much hype?

Best movie ever!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

As Porky searches for the Do Do, he encounters creatures defying reality and situations that are unexplainable. This doesn't matter because what happens is a portrayal of craziness from the surreal. Porky is nonplussed along the way, never really reacting but, rather, introducing us to the whole array of absurdity. Some of these characters show up in other cartoons, but they had their birthplace here. Once again, we have an animator whose random concepts and dream world's, along with some really interesting sound, set the table for the future. Nice work. Porky eventually morphs into what we are familiar with but provide a little stability to this madness.

As I understand it, "Porky in Wackyland" was the first of three cartoons in which Porky Pig goes thither*, followed by "Tin Pan Alley Cats" and "Dough for the Do-Do" (which was almost a shot-for-shot remake of this one). In this one and the last one at least, he goes in search of the last Do-Do bird. But no matter what specifically we know about the cartoon's history, it's great to see just how outlandish the animators were willing to get. As the Wackyland sign indicates: "It can happen here." And believe you me, ANYTHING can happen there! And much of that happens even before we meet the zany Do-Do bird! Anyway, this is definitely a classic cartoon. I wholeheartedly recommend it.*"Thither" is Old English for "to there".

This 21 minute documentary on the work of Bob Clampett can be seen on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. And is very much worth it for any fan of his, of which I certainly am. Featuring interviews by his daughter, fellow cartoonists, and other notables, it also features clips of his work as well as old stills of behind the scenes stuff. This is great stuff and i loved watching every second of it. Needless to say I feel that this is the best "Behind the Tunes" featurette of all that I've seen hands-down. There will never be another Bob Clampett in my or your lifetime.My Grade: A+

In 1937 Robert Clampett was promoted to director and one year later he created his first, true classic cartoon of the many that he would direct for Warner Bros. studio: Porky in Wackyland. Along with Tex Avery and Frank Tashlin, Clampett was instrumental in creating the Warner style. He was an innovator who liked to push the boundaries of the medium, and Wackyland is a perfect example of this. It was also the first of Clampett's many cartoons to use hallucinatory, surrealistic images; others would include The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, The Big Snooze and Tin Pan Alley Cats (which re-used animation from Porky in Wackyland.) Wackyland was later remade in color as Dough for the Do-Do by Friz Freleng.