TheLittleSongbird
Have been increasingly unsure what to make of "The Beary Family" cartoons as an overall series, whether to stand by my initial statement of for Walter Lantz Studios' final series it not being as bad as anticipated or judging from the awfulness of the worst cartoons to take it back. Sorry if this sounds confusing.Due to that there are some decent or watchable "Beary Family" cartoons, especially 'Fowled-Up Birthday' and 'Mother's Little Helper' (both directed by Jack Hannah, who generally is a much stronger animation director than Paul J. Smith and his cartoons much better). However, there are also a fair share of horrible ones, beforehand especially seen with 'Charlie's Mother-in-Law'. This may be an unpopular view, as indicated by that it is rated very low here (which could be that people do dislike it and it could also be down to not having a lot of user rating votes), but to me 'Guest Who' was one of the better "Beary Family" cartoons.'Guest Who', like the rest of the better-faring entries in the series, is not great by any stretch. Like many 60s Lantz-studio cartoons, the animation is not good. Time and budget constraints shows in a lot of the animation, which is very rushed looking in the drawing and detail wise it's on the simplistic and careless side with colours that lack vibrancy and a fair share of goofs. The story is pretty slight and contains few surprises and could have benefited from feeling a little less noisy and at times tighter timing.Bessie's role here is very limited and pretty repetitive, what she is given to do and who she treats Charlie again makes her a character difficult to like. The ending is senseless and even for a "Beary Family" cartoon pretty mean-spirited.However, the music puts one in a good mood and is rousing and lush. Am liking the main "Beary Family" theme more with each cartoon of theirs. Found myself liking Junior here again like in the previous cartoon (not always the case), he's a half-wit but this is one of the strongest examples of him also meaning well. The monkey is absolutely adorable, also an amusing and clever monkey, and very nearly steals the show from under Charlie despite the predictable in outcome antics.For a Smith-directed "Beary Family" cartoon, while never hilarious or innovative the gags are actually amusing and have much crisper timing generally to usual (though parts are still clumsy and could have been tighter, but not as badly as other entries in the series), regardless of whether the outcomes are foreseeable. Charlie's dialogue amuses.Despite Junior making one of his cooler and more likable appearances, the best, most interesting and funniest character is Charlie. It is very easy to relate to and like him, and Paul Frees' deft voice work helps a lot. The voice work generally is good, with Daws Butler proving to be a better fit for Junior than Frees. Grace Stafford has little to do though.All in all, to me one of the better "Beary Family" cartoons although it is a long way from being great let alone a classic. 6/10 Bethany Cox
tavm
This is another Beary's Family Album series entry from Walter Lantz that I watched on YouTube as linked from the Saturday Morning Blog. This one is as lame as the last one I watched there. It seems Junior Beary has won a dance contest and his prize is a pet monkey. When he takes it home in the middle of the night, he decides to hide Bunky the Monkey so as not to startle his dad. But Charlie and Bessie hear the commotion caused by Bunky and investigate...Like I said, very lame with no timing among the clumsy slapstick gags and Bessie's asking of hubby Charlie why he's doing certain things makes things even lamer. And the ending makes absolutely no sense. So on that note, I definitely can't recommend Guest Who?
