Ranking the Animated Dr. Seuss Specials

Do I really have to explain to anyone reading this who Dr. Seuss is? I mean, is there ANYBODY on the planet who's never heard of Dr. Seuss?

Okay, fine. Dr. Seuss, otherwise known as Theodore Geisel, is one of the most beloved children's book authors of all time. He's known for writing his books entirely in rhyme, inventing new species of animals like "Sneetches" and "Brown Barbaloots", and introducing such iconic characters as the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, and Sam-I-Am. There. Now those of you that didn't know who Dr. Seuss is are all caught up.

Dr. Seuss' stories, with their whimsical illustrations and general zaniness, lend themselves well to animation, so it's no surprise that a good chunk of his books have been adapted to that medium. As far back as 1944, there was a short film based on And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by George Pal as part of his Puppetoons series. Since then we've seen lots of Seuss' characters make the jump to animation. And the most common way of bringing the characters to life is through a television special.

Over the years, folks like Chuck Jones and Friz Freling have made TV special after TV special adapting Mr. Geisel's works. There are a loooooooooooot of specials... and by "a lot", I mean only eleven... many of which had input from Dr. Seuss himself. There are even some TV specials NOT based on the books but featuring Seuss' characters. So today, I'm going to rank the animated specials based on Dr. Seuss' work from worst to best. And when I say "worst", I actually mean "least good" because none of the specials are actually BAD. There's just some that I find better than others.

And just a clarification here... we'll be talking about animated TV SPECIALS based on Dr. Seuss' work. So don't expect to see Blue Sky's Horton Hears a Who, Bob Clampett's Horton Hatches the Egg short, or Netflix's Green Eggs and Ham show on the list. Not because I don't like them, but because they aren't TV specials. Now, on with the list!

Number 11: Horton Hears a Who! (1970)

This is the second of Chuck Jones' Dr. Seuss TV specials, and fittingly this one also involves Whos. Actually, Horton Hears a Who is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books (it probably stems from the fact that I love elephants), so it's honestly kind of surprising that it's only Number 10 on the list. However, I personally believe... get out the torches and pitchforks... that Blue Sky Studios' 2008 film take on the book is the better of the two adaptations.

Don't get me wrong, this one has a lot to like about it. Hans Conried gives a wonderful performance as Horton, to the point that you might just find it difficult wrapping your head around the fact that it's the same guy who voiced the diabolical Captain Hook. June Foray and Chuck Jones himself also voice characters, but it's Hans Conried who definitely carries the special.

Going back to the 2008 movie adaptation, it's kind of funny how much the filmmakers were seemingly influenced by this special. The beginning where we actually see the dust speck floating around before it reaches Horton's ears, the Sour Kangaroo's snootier personality, the Wickersham Brothers being blue... I don't know for sure if the filmmakers even watched this special, but the similarities seem waaaaaaaaaaaay too numerable to be coincidences.

Of course, this one doesn't have everyone singing "I Can't Fight This Feeling
Anymore", so they're really not THAT similar.

There are some interesting alterations from the book... for example, instead of the Mayor, the Who that Horton interacts with is a professor named Doc Hoovey who looks a lot like Dr. Seuss. Which also comes with a subplot about how the other Whos think he's out of his mind for thinking their world is sitting on a speck of dust. In addition, Vlad Vladikoff is renamed "Whizzer McKoff". We also get an amusing "here we go again" ending.

The special's main weak spot, though, are its songs. Most of them honestly aren't very good. Two of them - the song the birds sing while gossipping about Horton and the one the Whos sing about how Dr. Hoovey is a quack - don't even really have a melody. The only song that I personally like is the Wickersham Brothers'... which, I'll admit, frightened me when I was younger. On top of that, everything seems toned down from the book... the "We Are Here" sequence, for example, in the book is represented via two-page illustrations of all the Whos in Whoville shouting and playing instruments, with all sorts of gags all over the place. In the special, we get a few Whos in silhouette exclaiming "We are here!" and then a few minutes of reused animation from The Grinch. And the penultimate "YOPP" that Jojo supplies to save Whoville is basically just him saying it as opposed to SHOUTING it. And it's supposed to be what finally got the other animals to hear the Whos. It just lacks any sort of impact.

I didn't think it was possible to make three blue apes SCARY, but Chuck Jones accomplished
it.

But for all its flaws, Horton Hears a Who does a perfectly serviceable job of adapting the book. I just don't think it's as good as the other Seuss specials. It's not bad, just okay.

Number 10: Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995)

Okay, this is a complicated one. It was based on a book that Dr. Seuss wrote but never got published until 1995. And the TV special based on the book came out before the book did. It's also the only Dr. Seuss TV special to be adapted by Hanna-Barbera.

For those of you who haven't read the book or seen the special, here's the plot: the Cat in the Hat tells the story of a girl named Mayzie who has a daisy sprout from her head. Eventually she becomes a celebrity, but it becomes too much for her.

This special, I'd honestly put in the "meh, it's okay" category. If nothing else, it does have some nice animation - I think this might be the special that adapts the character designs from the book the most faithfully - and a great voice cast - Henry Gibson in particular does a splendid job as the Cat in the Hat. What's my main problem with it? Well, there's a lot of padding. One scene with Mayzie getting chased by bees goes on a lot longer than it needed to. Also, Mayzie isn't a particularly interesting character. I mean, she's sympathetic, but she spends most of the special just standing there with a confused expression as everyone around her hams it up.

Regardless, there's nothing awful about Daisy-Head Mayzie. If nothing else, it's worth watching just to hear Henry Gibson as the Cat in the Hat.

Interesting fact: Mayzie is voiced by Francesca Marie Smith, who would go on to do the voice of Helga from Hey Arnold. Kind of a funny mental image, isn't it? Helga with a daisy sticking out of her head...

Number 9: The Butter Battle Book (1989)

Did you know that of the TV specials on this list, Dr. Seuss thought this one was the most faithful adaptation of his work?

This special, brought to us by animator Ralph Bakshi... yes, the same guy who gave us Fritz the Cat and Cool World did a Dr. Seuss special. Try to wrap your head around THAT one... tells the story of two groups of bird-like creatures called the Yooks and the Zooks. The Yooks eat their bread with the butter-side up, whereas the Zooks prefer it with the butter-side down. This is such a huge deal that the Yooks and the Zooks get into an all-out WAR, with increasingly over-the-top weapons. And yes, there is supposed to be a metaphor here.

"I'm gonna blow you to pork and wee beans... uh, what's your name?"
"They didn't give me a name. I'm the main character of the story and I don't have a name!"

It doesn't deviate from the book that much, outside of the musical numbers, which are hit and miss. None of them I'd qualify as great, but they're at least better than Horton Hears a Who's, and I did find the "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"-esque song that the Yooks and Zooks sing about each other amusing. The special also has sketchier, more inconsistent animation than the other specials, which can get kind of distracting. The highlight is definitely the scene where the Yooks create "the Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo", which somehow manages to be both creepy AND whimsical at the same time, with visuals reminescent of Halloween Is Grinch Night (we'll talk about that one eventually).

Actually, "both creepy AND whimsical at the same time" is a nice way to summarize The Butter Battle Book. More people should pay more attention to its moral. We'd likely have a lot less wars if they did.

Number 8: The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975)

I believe this was the first Dr. Seuss special that wasn't an adaptation of one of his books. However, the special is still unmistakingly Seuss.

It stars the eccentric Mr. Hoober-Bloob (voiced by both Bob Holt and Hal Smith - you have to listen closely to pinpoint which lines are Bob and which are Hal), who serves as a dispatcher of newborn children in outer space (well, THAT sure is an interesting way of explaining where babies come from...). He's preparing to send a baby down the titular highway to Earth, but first, he gives the child a chance to decide for himself whether or not he wants to be human.

The general theme here seems to be that life is a mixed bag - there's some good stuff and there's some bad stuff. Of course, being a Dr. Seuss story, the bad stuff is, for example, having to learn how to milk a walrus and tigers infesting your attic as opposed to, y'know, wars and diseases. And, honestly, the special does a pretty good job of showing how complicated the world can be. And, in all honesty, it really does feel like it could've been an actual Dr. Seuss book.

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of other things...
Like how if you try to milk me, I'll send you flying off to the Jungle of Nool
with a flick of my flipper."

Actually, even though this wasn't an adaptation of a pre-existing book, there is some material taken from various Seuss stories. At one point, a bunch of animals from If I Ran the Zoo appear (plus a creature that looks very much like one in On Beyond Zebra!). The "Tweedle Beetle battle" sequence from Fox In Socks is included, too. Even Mr. Hoober-Bloob himself bears a resemblance to a character from I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.

There are also a lot of songs. And much like the ones in The Butter Battle Book, they're hit or miss. Some are decent, others not so much.

Taking out the trash is easy for Mr. Hoober-Bloob.

There isn't much about The Hoober-Bloob Highway that makes it stand out from the other Seuss specials, but it's charming and has a lot of Seuss' trademark whimsy to keep it from being a chore to watch.

Number 7: Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980)

Much like The Hoober-Bloob Highway, this one isn't based on a pre-existing Dr. Seuss book. And unlike The Hoober-Bloob Highway, there aren't any elements lifted from any of the books.

Poor Pontoffel Pock feels down after failing epically at putting pickles in jars (no, really!) and wishes he could "just get away from it all". Don't we all feel like that sometimes? Fortunately, he is then visited by the Amalgamated Do-Gooder Fairies, who give him a magical piano can take him anywhere he wants to go. Hilarity ensues.

This special is carried almost entirely by its music. The songs were composed by Joe Raposo of Sesame Street fame, which should be a pretty big indicator of how good they are. For years since I first watched the special, I've still had "Pull on the Pullem" and "Pontoffel Pock, Where the Heck Are You" taking up space in my head. I think the songs are actually what makes this special a bit more well-known than The Hoober-Bloob Highway, even if it's still not super well-known.

Happy Pride Month, everybody!

Things really get good during the special's third act, when Pontoffel starts to lose control of the piano and the Do-Gooder Fairies are flying around trying to find him. That's where Dr. Seuss' trademark whimsy and zaniness really shines. It's also neat to hear Don Messick in a Dr. Seuss production.

Honestly, with Warner Bros. making plans to do animated movie adaptations of Dr. Seuss' works, I think this special has the potential to make a good movie. The climax alone is begging for more zany gags to be thrown in there. Heck, I'm not the only one who thinks so!

"Now, remember, the thing called the "Pullem' is the one you PULL, and the 'Pushem' is
the one you PUSH. You can do that, right?"
"That depends. Will WHACKY SHENANIGANS occur if I don't?"
"Yes."
"Then I probably won't..."

There's not much else to say about Pontoffel Pock. Pontoffel is hardly one of Dr. Seuss' most interesting characters - going from six-foot-tall cats in striped hats and furry green monsters who want to steal Christmas to some ordinary dude who lives in a run-down house is, let's be honest here, a massive downgrade - but the strange world he inhabits more than makes up for that. It's definitely worth seeking out if you love Seuss' works.

Number 6: Halloween is Grinch Night (1977)

Would you believe that Dr. Seuss apparently thought that this special was better than How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

This 1977 special is the only one of Dr. Seuss' works to really qualify as a Halloween production... well, sort of. Halloween is never even mentioned. But it did air a few days before Halloween and I think the indication is for "Grinch Night" to be sort of a Whoville version of Halloween... except instead of dressing in costumes and going from door-to-door to get candy, everyone is hiding in their houses because the Grinch is coming down from Mount Crumpit into Whoville with his "Paraphanelia Wagon". A young Who named Euchariah has the bad luck of having to go to the outhouse - because apparently the Whos don't have indoor plumbing - and gets swept up by the wind right into the path of the Grinch!

Dun dun dun!

Now, a question that's often been asked about this special is, does it take place before How the Grinch Stole Christmas or after it? I'm not sure which one they intended for it to be. I personally believe that it takes place before, and the Max we see in the special is actually a different dog from the one in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I mean, the Max in this special doesn't even look much like the one from the first one. Let's compare the two, shall we? Here's the Max from this special:

And here's the Max from the first one:

Even personality-wise they aren't that much alike. The Max in How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a wide-eyed, cheery pup. The Max in Halloween is Grinch Night, on the other hand, is a depressed dog who's had most of the happiness sucked out of him by years of the Grinch's abuse. He even gets a heart-wrenching song (in his head, a la Garfield) performed by Henry Gibson. Which makes it all the more satisfying when he finally stands up to the Grinch at the end and goes home with Euchariah (hence why I think the Max in How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a different dog than the one seen here).

Since I already brought up Henry Gibson, now would be a good time to talk about the special's voice cast. The Grinch is voiced here by a delightfully diabolical Hans Conried. Hal Smith voices Euchariah's grandfather. Even Thurl Ravenscroft pops in again.

These creatures give the Grinch an excuse to go down and torment the Whos - they
make so much noise, noise, NOISE!

Everything about this special is much darker than How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The colors are less saturated, the Grinch is far more sinister, and the whole special just has a more eerie feel to it. And that's BEFORE we get to the infamous climax.

Now, can we take a second to talk about Euchariah? At first glance he just seems like your typical nerdy kid with big glasses who uses a lot of big fancy words. But he's tougher than he looks. After encountering the Grinch, he becomes determined to save his town from the furry green guy's wrath. How does he accomplish this? By stalling for time! Of course!

This, of course, culminates in the thing in the special that people talk about the most - its CLIMAX. The Grinch lures Euchariah up to the top of the Paraphernalia Wagon. Euchariah bravely tells him to do his worst, which the Grinch promptly does. He opens up the hatch door on the wagon... and that's when the Nightmare Fuel begins.

Euchariah finds himself inside the Paraphanelia Wagon, and we get to see just what, exactly, was inside that the Grinch was planning on bringing into town: terrifying monsters of all shapes and sizes. And, yeah, it's incredibly creepy. And also incredibly trippy (between this and the Raggedy Ann movie, 1977 was a great year for trippy animation). If you didn't think Dr. Seuss could ever be frightening, this special has proven you wrong.

Although I think the Wickersham Brothers already accomplished that...

But Euchariah, despite how clearly terrified he is, manages to brave out the horrors of the Paraphanelia Wagon until the Sweet and Sour Wind - which is what the Grinch uses as an excuse to sic his monsters on the people of Whoville, probably should've mentioned that earlier - goes away. Which means the Grinch can't go down to Whoville and do his thing. He returns to Whoville a hero, having proven himself possibly the toughest character in any Dr. Seuss special ever. Yes, even tougher than the Zooks and Yooks, who were willing to blow each other up over what side of bread they spread butter on. But as the Grinch points out, the Sweet and Sour Wind will be coming back someday...

Halloween is Grinch Night is a great special, even if it can't hold a candle to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Next October (or heck, even next September, depending on how soon you consider the Halloween season to start), I recommend checking it out. Just beware of the Paraphernalia Wagon.

"The Ghosts of the Sneetches demand a sacrifice!"

Number 5: The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982)

I imagine that this was a huge deal back in 1982 - Dr. Seuss' two most iconic characters meeting for the first time? Seuss didn't do crossovers. The closest he came to it was having Whos in both Horton Hears a Who and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. There was never a book about the Lorax meeting Thidwick the big-hearted moose, or about the kid from And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street encountering the Fox in Socks. This was the very first Dr. Seuss crossover.

So, what's the plot? Well, the Grinch wakes up unusually cheery on a beautiful sunny morning. Too bad his reflection is having none of that and brainwashes him into being EEEEEEEEEEEE-VIL with the "Grinch's Oath". Determined to prove that he's a Grinch (as opposed to... I don't know, a Zax with green fur or something?), he drives off in his purple carrot to wreak havoc - and when he comes across the Cat in the Hat, who is going on a picnic, he becomes obsessed with making the Cat suffer.

When did the Grinch get a potbelly?

I often see this one described as one of the weaker Dr. Seuss specials. And while I do like it, I can understand why. For one thing, by the time the special came out, Depatie-Freling Enterprises had become Marvel Productions. It's also a tad obvious that this was made in the 1980s as opposed to the 1970s - the colors are brighter, the character designs are slightly "cutesy-er", and the animation as a whole looks a bit more polished. I can see how that might bother Seuss purists. On top of that, there's not much of a storyline. It's basically just an excuse for the Grinch to troll the Cat, eventually culminating in him subjecting the Cat and the diners at a local café to a Disney Acid Sequence because... it amuses him.

At one point, this happens.

However, the special is genuinely quite charming. The Cat and the Grinch are in-character for the most part (it's a bit jarring seeing the Cat get genuinely angry, but you can't blame him for being frustrated), and both Mason Adams and Bob Holt do a great job as their voices. I'm not sure whose Cat I like more, Mason's or Allan Sherman's. There are also some pretty good songs. And I'll admit, the climax does make me a bit teary-eyed. I won't give away how the Cat succeeds in redeeming the Grinch, but it's very moving.

I'd recommend watching The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, if for no other reason than because... well, come on, it's the Grinch meeting the Cat in the Hat. It's worth watching just for that reason alone.

Number 4: Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973)

What do you do when you have three Dr. Seuss stories that don't have quite enough to stretch into a full special? You make a special consisting of three segments adapting those stories, hosted by the Cat in the Hat. What a great idea! Too bad they didn't do more specials like this...

The three stories featured in this special are The Sneetches, The Zax, and Green Eggs and Ham. Each one is brought to life splendidly, but of the three I personally like this special's take on The Sneetches the most and its take on The Zax the least (but I still like it). There are some pretty good songs, as well as a lot of great gags that weren't in the original books. For example, Green Eggs and Ham turns the fox into a Running Gag that culminates in... well, I won't give it away. We even get to see just what, exactly, the interior of Sylvester McMonkey McBean's "Star-Off Machine" looks like. Unfortunately, we still don't get to see the inside of his "Star-ON Machine". I don't know why that is.

All together now, YouTube Poop fans - "EGGS! Eggs! E-Double-G-S eggs!"

I also have to give a tip of the hat to this special's voice cast. In addition to Allan Sherman reprising his role as the Cat, the special also features Bob Holt, Hans Conried, and Paul Winchell as all the other characters. All three have voices that lend themselves very well to Seuss' work (which is why Hans and Bob voiced characters in other Dr. Seuss specials, but we'll talk about their work in THOSE later on). I particularly like Paul's performances as Sam I Am and Guy Am I (I know he didn't have that name until the Netflix show, but to heck with it, I'm calling him that anyway).

My one complaint about this special is admittedly kind of small, but... I really don't like the redesigns they gave Sylvester McMonkey McBean and the Zaxes. Here's what they looked like in the original stories:

And here's what they look like in the special:

Why do the Zaxes look more monkey-like than Sylvester does? Is Sylvester even still supposed to be an ape? Is he human now? And if so, WHY? Why not just keep him an ape? And why redesign them at all? What, were the original designs just too hard to animate or something?

Well, despite that, I still recommend giving Dr. Seuss on the Loose a watch. It's a lot of fun.

Number 3: The Lorax (1972)

I first saw this one when I got it on DVD for Easter back in 2009 (Pontoffel Pock was included as a bonus feature, so I watched that one for the first time the same day). Nowadays, it's gotten a bit of a boost in popularity thanks to the release of the 2012 Illumination Entertainment adaptation of the book, with many who didn't like that one dubbing this the superior version. There ARE folks who like both, of course... me, for example. Yes, I actually liked the 2012 Lorax despite its flaws.

But, of the two, I'll agree that Depatie-Freling's take on the story is better. In fact, I dare say that this special might be even better than the book. Surprisingly, it's more poignant than the book. Why? Well, for one thing, it may or be not be longer depending on how fast you read - which allows for several scenes that aren't in the book. Second, the songs. There are a lot of songs, ranging from cheery and upbeat to hauntingly beautiful and heartstring-tugging. Like, compare "Everybody Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do Need a Thneed" to the song that plays as the Swamee-Swans leave.

"That's a woman?"

I also have to give a tip of the hat to Bob Holt, who provides the voices of both the Lorax and the Once-Ler. He gives a wonderful performance as both characters, in fact I'd put him on par with Danny DeVito and Ed Helms. Much like Hans Conried in the Horton Hears a Who special, he is the one who carries The Lorax.

There's also a bit more focus on the pollution that the Once-Ler clan is causing. Admittedly, I don't think it was necessary to give the gunk-spewing pipes a musical number, but eh...

Y'know how I said that everything in Horton Hears a Who feels smaller and toned down from the book? Here, it's the exact opposite. Everything feels bigger and better, yet it never feels like it's straying too far from the book. In a perfect world, some channel would air this on Earth Day every year. But this ain't a perfect world. Fortunately, you can find it on YouTube. And also on DVD.

Number 2: The Cat in the Hat (1971)

Long before Mike Myers terrified theater audiences as a foul-mouthed fur-covered feline, we had a much more book-accurate version of the Cat in the Hat voiced by Allan Sherman.

This is a great adaptation of what may very well be Dr. Seuss' most iconic story. None of the extra material added to the story feels like unneeded padding... well, some of the songs are kind of pointless, but they're GOOD songs, so I can forgive that. There's a plot thread added about the Cat trying to find his "moss-covered three-handled family gradunza"... which is never resolved onscreen, nor do we ever find out what the heck a "moss-covered three-handled family gradunza" is. And, honestly, I think that's for the better.

The Cat isn't exactly subtle with his opinions on art.

Obviously it's Allan Sherman who's the star of the show, one of the finest Cat in the Hat voices we've had yet. However, it's actually the Fish - not either of the kids - who gets the most focus. Daws Butler does a great job as his voice. He even gets a name: Carlos K. Krinklebine. Who the heck names their fish that? Is the indication supposed to be that he has a life outside of being the kids' pet?

"There's no mention of a 'moss-covered three-handled family gradunza' in the original
book!"

Incidentally, this was also Depatie-Freling Enterprises' first adaptation of Dr. Seuss' works. Apparently production began at Chuck Jones' studio MGM Animation/Visual Arts, but in December 1970 MGM closed down its animation department, so Depatie-Freling Enterprises took over.

The Cat in the Hat is one of Depatie-Freling Enterprises' best productions. I've always been a big fan of their work (the Pink Panther is one of my favorite cartoon characters), and between this and their other Dr. Seuss specials, they may very well have been the best studio to do an adaptation of his work if Chuck Jones was unavailable. Kind of makes me wonder how they would've done Horton Hears a Who if Chuck hadn't already done it...

Number 1: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

You probably expected me to put this in the Number One spot, didn't you?

The very first TV special based on a Dr. Seuss story to be made, this Chuck Jones-directed special is one of THE MOST iconic Christmas specials of all time. It's right up there with A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If you haven't watched this during the holiday season at least once, then you really need to get out from under that rock every once in a while. I think even those people who haven't read the book have seen it.

This adaptation of the story is what most people think of when they think of the Grinch. Sure, the 2000 live action adaptation and Illumination Entertainment's 2018 adaptation have their fans, but this is definitely the most popular take on the Grinch story. Who doesn't hear Boris Karloff's narration in their heads when they read the story? In fact, this special is responsible for the Grinch's being green everywhere else he appears. The book's illustrations are black and white!

With some red. But still...

Actually, Chuck Jones very well have been the best person to produce an adaptation of the story. His use of Looney Tunes-esque sight gags lends itself to the Grinch's holiday stealing-spree very well. Nothing added to the story feels too out of place or like filler. And of course, there's that great song, "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch". What would the special be without it?

The main thing that sets this apart from the other adaptations of the story is how much more simple it is. We don't get any stupid subplots regarding the Whos, nor do we get any backstory for the Grinch. And sometimes, the simple way is the best way to adapt a book. Granted, it also has the benefit of only being a thirty-minute long TV special as opposed to a two-hour movie, but still...

What else do I really need to say but... if you haven't watched it, watch it. Now. Who cares if it's not Christmas?

So, that's it. That's all of the Dr. Seuss TV specials ranked (the animated ones, I mean, before anybody brings up that In Search of Dr. Seuss thing from 1994). Here's a question - how come they never did a television special adaptation of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose? I always liked that one.

Ah well. Hopefully the future Dr. Seuss animated adaptations (all the stuff Warner Animation Group is working on) are as good as these. I'm still looking forward to their Cat in the Hat movie. The concept art we've gotten for it looks promising, if nothing else:

So long as the Cat doesn't curse, I'd say we're good.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is another one of those shows on Nickelodeon that I remember seeing ads for but for whatever reason never actually watched. It premiered on Nickelodeon in February 2007, the creation of Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua (also known for the 2014 movie The Book of Life).

The show followed a thirteen-year-old boy named Manny Rivera (voiced by Alanna Ubach), who lives in the Mexican-American city of Miracle City. Manny has a magic belt that transforms him into the superhero El Tigre. His father, White Pantera (Eric Bauza), is a superhero and his grandfather, Puma Loco (Carlos Alazraqui) is a supervillain. Manny isn't quite sure of how he wants to use his powers yet, but a good chunk of episodes have him and his best friend, Frida Suarez (Grey DeLisle-Griffin), doing something less than heroic... though usually Frida is the one who comes up with the idea. Make of that what you will.

Maybe Manny can take a third option and join Josie and the Pussycats.

The show has gained a small but loyal fanbase over the years, with Spanish-speaking countries in particular loving it (according to TV Tropes, anyway). Jorge and Sandra based a lot of the show on their own lives - for example, while Jorge's father and grandfather were not a superhero or a supervillain respectively, his father was an architect (which was viewed as good) and his grandfather was a general in the military (which was viewed as evil). MY grandfather was a horse racer. That really doesn't have anything to do with El Tigre, I just wanted to bring my grandfather up.

So why did El Tigre only receive one season (which did have fifty episodes - or rather, twenty-six consisting of two segments per episode - but still)? Well, apparently Nickelodeon just kind of became apathetic towards it. After the seventeenth episode, they aired the next five episodes very early in the morning... y'know, when ALL kids generally watch TV. Then they booted the show to Nicktoons Network. And why did they give up on it? Because it wasn't doing as well in ratings as SpongeBob SquarePants. You see, Nickelodeon wants all of their shows to be as popular (at least ratings-wise) as SpongeBob to keep the company going, justify animation costs, and compete with Cartoon Network. If they didn't have ratings as good as SpongeBob's - which seems like a pretty tall order considering how high a bar that show has set - Nickelodeon goes "Well, we tried." and tosses them to Nicktoons Network so they can burn off the remaining episodes. This is also why Danny Phantom and My Life as a Teenage Robot got the axe.

In hindsight, maybe I should've watched the show when it was on... if nothing else, it might've boosted the ratings at least a LITTLE. But instead of going "woulda, coulda, shoulda", I'm going to watch an episode of El Tigre right now to see if it really IS as good as everyone claims. I've decided on the 20th episode, which consists of the segments "Stinking Badges" and "Mech Daddy", to watch. ¡Empecemos! (That's Spanish for "let's get started", unless Google Translate has decided to mess with me)

We start off on a night in Miracle City, where Frida's dad, police chief Emiliano Suarez (Daran Norris) is being honored, as are his daughters and Frida's older sisters Anita and Nikita Suarez (Grey DeLisle-Griffin and April Stewart), who are deputies. Frida is bummed that she's not being honored like they are. Well, let's see, Frida... according to the episode descriptions online, you have stolen pets along with Manny so that you two can return them to their owners and get reward money and stolen Manny's magic belt to become a superhero because you were fed up at not having superpowers yourself. Maybe you'd be treated with honor in Miracle City if you weren't a kleptomaniac.

Look on the bright side, though. At least your legs aren't longer than your body.

Anita and Nikita start doing karate moves. I don't know if karate is popular in Mexico, but I'm going to assume it is because a show created by two actual Mexican-Americans likely knows a lot more about Mexico than I do.

After her sisters' karate demonstration, it's time for Frida to perform. She sings a song on her guitar about her father, but impresses nobody because she's a lousy singer (or maybe she should just avoid playing rock music) and trashes the whole room.

If I had a nickel for every time I've seen a 2000s Flash-animated cartoon where
Grey DeLisle-Griffin voiced a character who plays the guitar, I'd have two nickels.
Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Anita and Nikita ask their father why Frida is so weird, to which he claims she isn't. She is merely "different from them". Jeez, Emiliano, surely you could've found a better word to use than that. You might have well had said that she's the black sheep of the family.

Frida's feelings are hurt by her father claiming that she's "different". She vows to become a junior police cadet while making this really creepy derpy expression.

"¡Herp un derp!"

At the junior police cadet tryouts, Emiliano says that a junior police cadet must be strong of will, swift of foot, and above all, honest. As we've established, Frida has a habit of doing less than honest things... but hey, two out of three ain't bad.

Montage time! We are treated to Frida failing at chin-ups (which is fair. Chin-ups are hard), running through the mud (apparently she's incredibly clumsy. Was this pre-established in an earlier episode?) and walking the police dogs (she's pretty small, so they just drag her around). Then she gets flattened against the wall that the trainees are supposed to climb over by a fat kid. Her sisters find Frida's failures hilarious.

Okay, this part wasn't even Frida's fault. She was doing perfectly fine until
that fat kid smashed into her.

Only one of Frida's failures is self-inflicted. At one point the trainees are supposed to work with police tape, and instead she uses it like a lasso. I think Frida has "junior police cadet" confused with "cowgirl".

Well, at least Frida would make a good gaucho.

Frida has demonstrated that she would be the worst police cadet ever, but Emiliano can't bear to crush his daughter's dreams, so he makes her a police cadet anyway. I can only see THIS ending well...

You can tell he's Mexican because he has a sombrero and a thick mustache. Honestly,
though, he's still not as offensive as that guy from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi…

And by "being a police cadet", I mean she winds up sitting at a desk stapling papers instead of actually doing, y'know, police cadet stuff. She complains to Manny that her dad's going to see her as little more than the blue-haired goofball of the family. But then Manny gets an idea... what if HE takes down all the supervillains and FRIDA takes the credit?

You'd think Manny and Frida would have learned by now that being dishonest will only lead to trouble for them. But at least this time they actually have a unselfish reason for their little scheme (well, maybe "making Frida look good in her father's eyes" isn't an entirely unselfish reason, but at least it's not "stealing pets so they can get big cash rewards to spend on roller blades" like they did in an earlier episode).

First villains to nab? Father and son Dr. Chipotle Sr. and Dr. Chipotle Jr. (both voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz).

They're mad that everyone in Miracle City eats at Taco Bell instead.

Their evil plan is to, uh... have a giant creature made of green slime use a slot machine to get money? I'm gonna need a bit more context here...

Jeez, even the Tasty Paste monster has a thick mustache... just because the show
has a Mexican cast doesn't mean you need to give EVERYONE a thick mustache...

Frida shows up, brandishing her stapler. Dr. Chipotle Sr. and his son aren't threatened, which is odd, seeing as staplers CAN cause you physical pain. Just ask the mayor from Horton Hears a Who.

But then who shows up but Manny - or rather, EL TIGRE! And since we haven't had a screencap of him so far, here's one now. That costume is really cool.

"I am the terror that prowls in the night! I am the hairball that your cat barfs up
on your carpet! I am EL TIGRE!"

After Manny beats the crap out of the Dr. Chipotles, Frida brings them into the police station and tells her dad that she caught them, without any help, hintidy-hint-hint-hint. She even managed to handcuff the giant slime monster! Her sisters are MAD because... I guess since Frida isn't as pathetic as they thought she was, they don't have anybody to look down on now?

Next Frida and El Tigre go after a guy in a top hat, a robot, and a cowboy who appears to be half-spider who are robbing a pudding factory. That sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn't it? "Okay, so a guy in a top hat, a robot, and a cowboy who's half-spider walk into a pudding factory..."

I don't know what the punchline would be, though.

Then they take down El Oso, a bear-themed supervillain who's causing trouble at a dry cleaner.

"You don't understand! They shrunk my fur coat! THEY NEED TO BE PUNISHED!"

One montage later, Frida and El Tigre have put all the villains in Miracle City behind bars. But Anita and Nikita know that Frida is up to something, and when they find out what it is, they vow that they will make Frida suffer. Their father, on the other hand, is none the wiser, and presents Frida with her own office.

But then Frida's conscience starts to get to her. Her father said before that a police cadet must be strong of will, swift of foot, and above all, HONEST. Not that being dishonest bothered her before, but still... her feelings of guilt are interrupted by El Tigre popping it to tell her that the Golden Mustache of the Pharaohs is taking up residence in the local museum.

...okay, somebody on the writing staff must have REALLY thought that mustaches were hysterical. I fail to see the humor. How are mustaches funny?

Monkeys, mustaches... do people think that things beginning with "M" are automatically
hilarious?

Anyway, El Tigre is telling her this because he knows that the "Mustache Mafia" are totally gonna try to steal it. Frida desperately tries to cover up how guilty she's feeling. Surely one more bust won't do any harm, right?

"Congratulations, Frida! You just became President of Mexico! What are you going
to do first?"

"I'm going to ban Mexican stereotypes in animation! Any cartoon show that depicts us
as taco-eating, sombrero-wearing, mariachi-playing lunatics shall be cancelled!"

But what's this? Anita and Nikita are spying on her. Now they know Frida's secret! This can't be good...

I'm just now noticing that Frida's sisters have abnormally large heads. They remind me
of Rolie Polie Olie...

Sure enough, the Mustache Mafia DOES try to steal the Golden Mustache of the Pharaohs. And not only do they have bushy mustaches, but their mustaches are PREHENSILE! Mustache mustache mustache!

"It belongs in a museum... the MUSTACHE Museum, that is!"

Frida and El Tigre show up. Frida is all "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!", brandishing her trusty stapler. For whatever reason, it still hasn't occurred to her that she could easily just throw it at one of the bad guys' heads. That would probably knock them out.

In the middle of her speech, Frida admits that she's a lame-o who's not going to do anything but stand there and watch El Tigre go to town on the Mustache Mafia. Again, stapler. Throw it at one of their heads. Konk 'em. Seems pretty obvious to ME.

Well, anyhow, El Tigre uses his razor-sharp claws on the Mustache Mafia's moustaches. But uh oh! Anita and Nikita have brought their father to the museum to show him that Frida is a fraud. Here's a question, where were all of the OTHER police officers in this town when the bad guys are doing their thing? Why were only Frida and El Tigre going after them? What, were the rest of the cops too busy eating churros or something to deal with El Oso?

Heck, where's Manny's father? Y'know, White Pantera? Why hasn't HE been dealing
with any of the villains?

I expected this to be the scene where Frida admits that she just wanted to make her father proud because she was tired of being the black sheep of the family and he tells her that he's already proud of her and it's all very heartwarming, but instead, Emiliano makes Frida turn in her badge and walks out with a disappointed look. And neither he, Nikita, or Anita are doing anything about, y'know, the Mustache Mafia. Even if Manny already beat them up, why aren't they ARRESTING THEM?

Fortunately, Manny speaks up in Frida's defense. "Yeah, she lied. But only because she wanted to be a good cadet so you'd like her more!" he claims. "WHAT?!" Emiliano asks. "How could I like her MORE?! I love my Frida! She is... my Frida!"

Hey, wait a minute! Technically, Emiliano lied to Frida too! He told her he would make her a police cadet, only to make her for all intents and purposes a secretary sitting at a desk stapling papers. Are we just going to ignore that?

What's the moral here? "Lying is wrong, but only if you're Frida"?

Before Emiliano can tell Frida how much he loves her, she's suddenly grabbed by the head of the Mustache Mafia's mustache. Well, at least they didn't seize the opportunity to swipe the Golden Mustache and escape while everyone was distracted.

Wait, El Tigre didn't finish them off already? Is he having an off day?

Anita and Nikita try to save Frida, only for them to get clobbered. Some police cadets they are. Emiliano orders them to put Frida down, and they're afraid of him, so they do. Manny catches her, causing all of the shippers watching this episode to wet their pants.

"Why, El Tigre, I do believe you're trying to seduce me!"

Emiliano goes Papa Wolf on the Mustache Mafia's rears, making Frida realize that her father DOES care about her. Clearly he must if he's going to beat them up for EIGHT HOURS (not an exaggeration) over their trying to hurt her. Then he tells Frida that she's perfect just the way she is. Next segment!

White Pantera is telling Manny that, as his father, it is his job to keep him safe. Therefore, he must forbid him from fighting a giant robot like he's doing right now.

Setup? What's THAT?

Manny is all "Come on, Dad, PLEAAAAAASE?" and White Pantera says that he can finish off this robot with his supervision. Frida assumes that he means "super vision" like x-ray vision or laser vision. Methinks Frida is a few sodas short of a six-pack.

El Tigre punches the giant robot - which, of course, ALSO has a thick mustache - in the teeth, defeating it. Then White Pantera tells him to clean up the mess. And when he gets home, they will have their seventh hundred talk about crime-fighting safety, but louder this time.

"Hey, Manny, have you ever noticed that I don't have shoulders? My arms are just
attached to my head."

After White Pantera leaves, El Tigre complains about how his dad is always nagging him about safety. But there's no time for that now - the robot is about to fall on the orphanage! And the puppy hospital! And, most horrifying of all, the arcade! How are they going to move him?!

El Tigre gets an idea - they just have to figure out how to control the robot themselves. Which should be pretty easy, seeing as the control room is inside its head.

It's a good thing whoever was controlling the robot before stepped out to use the bathroom.

Fortunately, the control panel for the robot is exactly like the controls for a Guitar Hero parody that Frida plays. Unfortunately, Frida is an idiot and causes the robot to shoot laser beams out of its eyes. The laser beams pierce a volcano in the middle of Miracle City, causing it to start spewing out lava. Way to go, Frida.

And all of Miracle City was promptly destroyed. With their last breaths, the citizens
cursed Frida. The end.

Frida's "playing" the controls like an electric guitar wreaks havoc on Miracle City. Among other things, she reduces the orphanage to rubble and sets the puppy hospital on fire - in other words, she destroys the very two buildings that they were trying to save. You had ONE JOB, Frida. ONE JOB.

But hey, at least the arcade is still standing.

So now that Frida has caused massive amounts of destruction to Miracle City, what are she and El Tigre going to do? Answer: take the giant robot for a joyride! Because Manny is an idiot too, apparently. That sound you hear is me slapping my forehead in frustration.

"Let's cause MORE property damage!"

They can stomp on the bubble wrap factory! They can toilet paper all of Miracle City! They can ding-dong-ditch astronauts on the moon! But before they can continue their reign of terror, the robot's autopilot engages... for some reason... and it returns to its base. Which, from the looks of it, clearly belongs to some sort of supervillain.

The skull-shaped entrance is a pretty obvious giveaway.

Or maybe it doesn't.

So the robot lives in Whoville, then?

This robot lives in a city filled with other, smaller robots, including a robot dog that poops batteries. Then autopilot disengages, meaning that Tonto y Tonta (I'm getting way too much use out of Google Translate in this review) are back in control of the robot. But the robot is out of rocket gas, so Frida can't wreak any more havoc.

And guess what? The robot has a wife and kids! No, I don't know how robots reproduce. My guess is that it's like in Robots, where they just build the kids themselves from a kit.

The wife even kind of reminds me of a Robots character. I think it's mainly the
treadmill "hair".

The robot is having a catastrophic systems failure. Manny and Frida try to bail, but the door is locked now because [REASONS]. And Manny and Frida, despite being... well, Manny and Frida, can't bring themselves to leave the kids all sad, so now they're going to control the robot.

The kids want to have fun with their dad, and the robot's wife tells them to have fun "safely". Manny and Frida, of course, are going to ignore that "safely" part. I smell a moral about safety coming on!

Another question - if the robot wasn't being controlled by a supervillain, what was it
doing in Miracle City in the first place?

First the robot and the kids play in lava. Then they do some skateboarding in the desert. Then they go fishing, reeling in things like submarines and cruise ships as opposed to fish, which makes for a pretty funny gag. They even get to go ding-dong-ditching on the moon!

I bet White Pantera is wondering where Manny is.

As the robot's kids are ice-skating on an iceberg, Manny and Frida are pleased that they're are having fun, which Manny chalks up to the fact that they're letting them do things that THEIR dads would never let them do. White Pantera and Frida's dad don't let them go fishing? That seems needlessly overprotective.

"We're the greatest dad EVER!" Frida exclaims before she and Manny high-five... which apparently causes a crack to form in the ice. One thing leads to another, and...

So THIS is why you shouldn't go ice-skating on an iceberg...

They can't go over and pull the kids up because the ice won't hold their weight, and they can't fly over there either because of the whole "no rocket fuel" thing. Maybe Manny can rewire the robot so the rockets in his feet work off the main battery, provided he can survive being electrocuted.

This is one of those situations where Manny is really, really lucky that he's a cartoon
character.

But it works! The rockets are working again, and the robot manages to save the kids.

Manny is, how you say, tostado.

Manny and Frida have learned a valuable lesson about how it's important for a father not to put their kids in irresponsible and dangerous situations, then the robot's system reboots and it turns back on... and it senses the intruders inside its head and decides to teach them another valuable lesson. The lesson? That karma's a barnacle head!

Between this and Frida being stretched out by the Mustache Mafia in the previous episode,
Manny and Frida must have very flexible bodies.

The robot kids give their father a "World's Greatest Dad" trophy, which causes the robot to calm down and thank Manny and Frida for helping his family. Then he ejects Manny and Frida from his insides by farting him out, sending them rocketing back to Miracle City, where they slam right into the volcano. And after their bones knit, they will presumably have to deal with the wrath of the townsfolk for, y'know, destroying much of their city. The end.

And whose dumb idea was it to put a volcano in the center of the town anyway? Didn't they
ever hear about Pompeii?

What's the Verdict?

I was expecting to either really like or really hate El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - really like based on how well-liked the show is online and really hate based on what I knew about Manny and Frida. But a a whole, I thought the show was decent. I liked "Stinking Badges" better than "Mecha Dad", mainly because "Mecha Dad" mainly relied on Manny and Frida being dimwitted idiots (Frida at least had a sympathetic motive in "Stinking Badges"). The voice actors all do a good job (it can get a little distracting how many characters have Grey DeLisle-Griffin's voice, but not as much as in Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends), the jokes for the most part land, and there's some fun to be had in how over the top everybody is. Do I have complaints? Well, yes... the animation, typical of 2000s Flash, is mediocre and there's a bit too much Mexican stereotyping. Plus I still don't understand what's so funny about mustaches. But as a whole, I would recommend giving El Tigre a look. It's a show that I definitely think had potential, if Nickelodeon had simply given it a chance.

If you want to check out El Tigre for yourself, there was indeed a DVD release in 2011. You can also find it on iTunes and Amazon Prime. Hasta luego!

I didn't use Google Translate for that. I already knew how to say "See you later" in Spanish. Really. Not making that up.