User Reviews

This cartoon is by Van Beuren Studio--though the beginning and ending credits are somehow missing. I downloaded it from archive.org--a legal repository for public domain videos.

There were two things that struck me when this cartoon began. First, Little Red Riding Hood was an obvious ripoff of Disney's Minnie Mouse. Second, the animation looked as if some middle schoolers made it--it was that bad. However, I am glad I kept watching, because although the animation was terrible, the story was insanely different and fun.

As Little Red Riding Hood walks to Grandma's house, Grandma is on death's door. The doctor gives her some 'Jazz Tonic' and instantly she's better and looks decades younger. So, when the Big Bad Wolf shows up, he doesn't want to eat her (at least not in a literal sense) and they run off to get married! However, there is, of course, a hitch. See this wacky cartoon and see it for yourself.

Clever and ugly--a strange combination indeed but also a short that you'll no doubt enjoy!

This take on the classic fairy tale doesn't have so much to do with Red as it does with the Wolf and Grandma. Sickly Grandma's administered some "jazz tonic" which makes her feel, look, and act like a young woman. The Wolf shows up to eat her, but after taking a good look at her gyrating hips, he decides to marry her instead. The twist at the end is crazy and I won't dare spoil it for you.

This sort of cartoon proves that animation wasn't seen as mere children's entertainment back in the day. Packed with innuendo, this is certainly adult fare. The animation isn't spectacular or slick, but there are a few nice bits here and there. Not an essential, but lots of fun for animation historians and geeks.

Some of these Van Buren Studio cartoons were really wild. They had a Tex Avery-Heck Allen sense of outrageous humor.

In this version of Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma is home feeling old and very ill, with a bad ticker. The doctor gives her a teaspoon of "jazz juice" and she suddenly alive. After the doctor leaves, she drinks more and then pours it all over herself. Suddenly, she looks and feels 20 years old. She's a hot number!

The big bad wolf motors up to the house (in funny fashion), enters asks "Who are you."

"I'm grandma," she coyly replies. "Wow, some grandma," says the wolf, who is impressed. He sits down at the pipe organ and starts belting out a number while she starts dancing, shaking her hips. (I told you; these cartoons are pretty crazy, and fun to watch. You don't know what bizarre thing you'll see next.)

The last two minutes couldn't equal the first two-thirds of this but overall it was a fun cartoon and another good example of early '30s somewhat adult-oriented cartoons.

I saw this 'Little Red Riding Hood" version on a DVD called "150 Cartoon Classic" by Mill Creek Entertainment.

Red Riding Hood (1931)

*** (out of 4)

If you're looking for a straight telling of the classic fairy tale then you'll certainly want to skip this thing, which appears to be showing what would happen if you were tripping on acid and then read the story. Grandma is on her death bed but the doctor gives her some Jazz tonic, which turns her into a sexy beast. When the wolf shows up she turns on the sexual nature but soon the two are interrupted by her annoying grand-daughter. RED RIDING HOOD contains some rather bland or uninteresting animation but at the same time this thing is highly recommended just because of how crazy it is. This is certainly pre-code material as grandma basically seduces the wolf and boy is it funny. There are several scenes that are just so crazy that you can't help but have a good time with the movie. It should also be noted that the grand-daughter here looks 100% like Minnie Mouse.

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

'Red Riding Hood' is among their best. It may not be a masterpiece or a cartoon classic, but it is so much more entertaining than most Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons and it is one of the few in the series to do almost everything right and not suffer from all, or most of, the usual flaws.

Starting with the very little that is wrong, the animation is far from great. Like a lot of Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons it's really quite bad actually, there is a lack of finesse in the drawing, an erratic sloppiness in movement and overdose of over-simplicity in the background art.

The last third also lags a bit in momentum, particularly in comparison to the delicious wildness of the previous two thirds.

However, 'Red Riding Hood' goes at a snappy pace and not only manages to be one of Van Beuren's strangest and absurdist, a good thing as that's their style of humour when they do it right, but also one of their overall funniest. There are a lot of gags, all of them well timed and funny, as well as wonderfully insane and almost nightmarish.

Don't expect it to make sense, it doesn't. The difference is that so much is executed so well it is much easier to forgive than with most of their efforts that don't excel anywhere near as much. Likewise with minding as to whether the story is flimsy (and it is as flimsy as one can get), you're just having too much fun to care. It is as wild and insane as one can get, 'Little Red Riding Red' has never had this kind of treatment and it's a riot, it's amazing at how much the cartoon (made pre-Production Code) gets away with.

The characters are among the easiest to remember and fun of any Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoon, the Grandma especially.

Best of all is the music score, it is typically peppy and great fun to listen to. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. Synchronisation is nicely done on the whole.

All in all, surprisingly well done and one of the better Aesop's Fables/Van Beuren cartoons. 8/10 Bethany Cox