Sniffles and the Bookworm (1939)

Excellent but underrated film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

. . . maroon bow ties, and reading glasses? In SNIFFLES AND THE BOOKWORM, the latter title character scoots his way through a tunnel a couple dozen tomes wide, which he's evidently committed to memory by consuming them. Later, this Creepy Crawly Character is able to elicit the denizens of many volumes to form a jazz ensemble, until Frankenstein's Monster threatens to break up the party. Though Sniffles the Mouse manages to trip up Frank (at least temporarily), perhaps Warner Bros. is using this animated short to warn viewers that we're not out of the woods yet. Just as bookworms endanger entire libraries, Warner warns, film decay--based on the flammable nitrate medium of Sniffle's Day--was (and continues) to endanger the World's Film Heritage. As Steven Spielberg documented, Hugo's mentor had the master copies of his pioneering film shorts turned into World War One ammunition. Maybe the Book People from FAHRENHEIT 451 could preserve the static printed page, but who will come to the rescue of the three million films made before the Digital Age, Warner asks. The World is STILL yearning to see the complete 40-hour director's cut of GREED!

Sniffles and the Bookworm (1939) ** (out of 4) A mouse falls asleep in a book store when he is visited by a bookworm, which turns a bunch of book characters into moving creatures. We get appearances from various stories all leading up to the showdown with Frankenstein's monster. All in all I found this animated short to be rather bland because none of the characters were all that interesting and that includes our lead, the mouse. I wasn't even overly impressed with Jones' animation because it too comes off bland and without too much life. The story itself is an interesting one but not much is done with it. There's a musical number that I didn't care too much for but the one interesting this is that the death of the monster here comes somewhat similar to that seen the same year in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN.

This is one of the most enjoyable and endearing little cartoons ever turned out by Chuck Jones, simple and unpretentious bits of humor that come about all because a "bookworm" invades a bookstore where Sniffles the Mouse is on guard watching out for the classic books.Various characters from the books join in the fun, and mayhem erupts when someone awakens the Frankenstein monster. The merry chases are fun to watch and Sniffles manages to resolve the situation at the predictable end by disposing of the monster.The last scene involves a happy reunion between Sniffles and the little green bookworm. The animators do a great job of giving the mouse and the worm warm personalities. Kids should find it delightful.

Chuck Jones's first star Sniffles was usually known as just plain cute. However, "Sniffles and the Bookworm" is different. This cartoon incorporates the "inanimate objects come to life" genre that twice portrayed books acting out their titles ("Have You Got Any Castles?" and "Book Revue"): Sniffles, a studious worm, and a group of classic novels have a hootenanny and inadvertently wake up Frankenstein's monster.So, for once, we do get to see a different side of this mouse. Of course, I probably speak for most Looney Tunes fans when I say that Chuck Jones got really good once he started directing Bugs, Daffy, and the rest of the really famous characters.All in all, worth seeing.