Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.
Rudolf Ising made a lot of cartoons leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon rather than the laugh a minute kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied in cartoons. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. 'The Old Plantation' unfortunately falls in the latter category. Not one of Ising's very worst (though among the lesser ones) by all means, with obvious strengths but with a good deal of big drawbacks.
Starting with the good things, the animation is very well done. It is fluid in drawing, vibrant and atmospheric in colour and rich in meticulous detail. The music is even better and performed with gusto, it's full of energy and character and is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, adding to the action and enhancing it.
A few parts charm and the voices are solid.
On the other hand, the story is paper thin and full of old-fashioned melodrama that holds no surprises whatsoever. Too often the cartoon is too sugary sweet and the over-stretched feel of the story makes 'The Old Plantation' feel dull, very little energy here. This is further accentuated by the agreed overlong length, 'The Old Plantation' easily should have been three minutes shorter.
'The Old Plantation' is completely humourless and near-completely charmless, none of the content engages enough, while the characters are never interesting or even appealing. Am not one to get too offended at racial stereotyping, but the stereotypes here are excessive and are hard to take even when judging it for a product of its time.
In summation, nicely made but lacklustre and doesn't hold up well. 4/10 Bethany Cox
