Pink Tuba-Dore

At their best the Pink Panther cartoons have the appearance of the best contemporary magazine cartoons (I wish I knew the names of the artists whose style they're reminiscent of, but I don't), tastefully coloured in and brought to life - in this case, REALLY brought to life, not just brought to motion. A few things distinguish this from other Panthers: the cuddly Alpine scenery, the fact that tubas are (as everyone knows) intrinsically funny, and the visual humour, which is at least on occasion (like when the dog bites on the tuba's mouthpiece in an attempt to save the instrument and its owner from a waterfall) artfully realised. That short, stout, white antagonist of the Pink Panther dates back to the very first cartoon ("The Pink Phink", 1964), and is the source of whatever really good animation the DePatie-Freleng studios could still afford to include. Him and the dog.

The pointy-nosed man is practicing his tuba, which disturbs his entire Alpine community. So, he was threatened to be evicted. As a result, he goes to the alps away from the town to practice his music, but he unknowingly disturbs the sleeping Pink Panther inside a tree.

The panther tries a horde of tricks and gags to silence the man, resulting in pretty funny scenes, highlighting the Pink Panther's classic clever and crafty self.

There is a laugh track to this cartoon, and although I didn't find this short to be extremely entertaining, the Pink Panther does get the upper hand in this one.

Grade B-

Another Pink Panther cartoon that is still funny and holds up well. The drawing can look rushed in places and the cartoon really could have done without the laughter track, which didn't add anything and just came across as distracting instead. However, the colours are still very tasteful and the Alpine scenery looks great and serves as an authentic backdrop. All three characters are simply but nicely drawn. The music is very distinctive in style and you won't have much trouble remembering it, while the theme tune is a classic that doesn't get old. The gags are both clever and hilarious, the final gag especially and the visuals even have their quirks like the dog biting on the tuba mouthpiece and of course the dog's facial expressions. The story doesn't bring much surprising or new but the lively pacing and funny situations make it come to life still. Of the three characters, Pinky still has his coolness and great sense of comedy and the Little Man is a good(never bland, never too antagonistic) adversary but the funniest character is the dog and it is also the character you feel the most sympathy for. To conclude, not perfect but Pink Tuba-Dore is still a very nicely done cartoon with many pleasures. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I guess this takes place somewhere back in time in Germany or thereabouts. The poor Little Man White man is playing his tuba with his little dachshund nearby wagging his tail. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door and a man is delivering a sealed official note saying "Warning! One more 'oompa' out of you and you will be evicted from these premises. Signed by everybody."

He takes his little Volkswagen up to the mountain where he play without disturbing anyone, but the dumb dog howls with each note, waking up the Pink Panther. In this episode, the PP lives high up inside a tree trunk, complete with bed, dresser, rug and plants.

As the case every time a dog is in one of these cartoons, the poor, loyal mutt gets blamed for everything bad the Panther does to the Little Man.

The humor in this animated short is very inventive, with clever material involving a pea shooter, a bubble-gum bubble, a huge magnet and then finally just soap-and-bubbles which was the best gag of them all.

Also, the looks on the dog's face are priceless. This cartoon would have been better, of course, without an insulting laugh track, but it was still worth a least a "9."