(Spoiler Section Length - 15min 38sec) This is one of the most well-known and beloved of all stop-motion animated films, all Halloween films, and it's even pretty high up on many people's favorite Christmas films. Also it has a lot of merchandise at Hot Topic! Add multiple video-game cameos via Kingdom Hearts (and even its own game or two), and som…

Donald Duck has finally been unshackled from Mickey's side, free to get into his own mouse-free shenanigans. Pluto's not even here! In fact, Donald's all on his own this time, at least when it comes to living creatures. There are a handful of robots, though! How does this early Donald solo outing hold up so many years later? Listen to find out! ---…

(Spoiler Section Length - 10min 27sec) We finally arrive at the loose quadrilogy of Scooby-Doo movies that began with Zombie Island! With this film, Scooby-Doo enters the era of digital colorization, as well, making the film's aesthetic decidedly different from the previous three. Plot-wise, in this one the gang fights against a digital monster, bo…

As we've watched the two Warner Bros cartoon series (Merrie Melodies & Looney Tunes), we've gradually seen Porky Pig become the studio's main character, the closest thing they had to a Mickey Mouse. But by this point, Mickey Mouse was arguably not even the most popular character in Disney's cartoons anymore - Donald Duck was fast taking that positi…

Many animated films tried to compete with Disney during the 90s, and virtually all of them failed, at least financially. But how about critical reception, cult following, or even general quality? Well there weren't many contenders in those arenas, but one that can put up a fight in all three just so happens to be today's film. The iconography of th…

We end our 1936 cartoon short journey with a double-length, color, musical Popeye short! Our hero Popeye comes up against villain Sindbad and his island of incredible and dangerous beasts! But none are as dangerous as Sindbad himself! Throw in Olive Oyl and Wimpy and several instances of 3D hand-crafted backgrounds and you have all the ingredients …

Between Disney's much beloved Golden and Silver eras is the 'Wartime' era, which is significantly less beloved and talked about. Virtually all of the movies in this period were collections of animated shorts, be they many in number such as Melody Time or only two not-quite-feature-length shorts, like Ichabod and Mr. Toad. But Saludos Amigos and Thr…

In this classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, Donald Duck tries to fix some pipes while Pluto gets harassed by a magnet! Eventually the two collide and chaos ensues. Are you wondering why that description didn't involve the character of Mickey? Well that would be because he isn't in this cartoon! Made before Disney started breaking characters out into thei…

(Spoiler Section Length - 5min 40sec) Today we have another anthology film, this one based on the titular magazine. It's a film of sex, violence and rock 'n' roll, and it certainly won't be to everyone's tastes. It's also from the 80s, so the era of 'Heavy Metal'—both the magazine and music genre—that it harkens to is one long past at this point. A…

There are many Looney Tunes director that are well known and spoken of today, be they Chuck Jones, Tex Avery or even Bob Clampett. But there are also less-discussed directors whose work was no less interesting and important in pushing the series into the force it would become. Enter Frank Tashlin, a man whose appreciation of live-action cinematic t…

We've covered films by Studio Ghibli's second-most famous director twice before, though one of those times it we were discussing a pre-Ghibli work of his. But today we have Isao Takahata's swan song, the last movie he ever made, and one of the most eye-catching, to boot. It's a new take on an old tale, and it's quite unlike the more quirky and off-…

The series of Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoons started out featuring Peg-Leg Pete as an antagonist, and in this cartoon that antagonism continues in color! ...Sort of! Pete is here, at least, but notably missing is his peg leg! From here on out Peg-Leg Pete just becomes Pete, at least as far as the classic era is concerned. The peg-leg aside... ho…

(Spoiler Section Length - 5min 59sec) It's time for more sequels to Don Bluth movies that have no involvement from Bluth himself or any of the other original creators for that matter! Except unlike most such sequels, this one ended up spawning a long-running franchise with well over 10 films and even a tv series under its belt as of 2024. The Land …

Oswald is a character originally created by Walt Disney, but who has long since been run by other directors, still creating shorts right alongside the much more popular Mickey Mouse series. Like Mickey, Oswald's design has changed with the times, but unlike Mickey that change at this point is so drastic that Oswald is hardly identifiable as the Mic…

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 41sec) The second of the two Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg collaborations, The Land Before Time would also go on to become the premier children series about dinosaurs for the better part of two decades. While those later films (and tv series!) have a reputation all their own, this first one is the only film in the se…

Another Betty Boop cartoon, here in the era where her shorts are mostly not her own, but rather a vehicle for her dog, Grampy, or some other even less interesting character! This time Betty wants to take some kid to the carnival, but the weather isn't permitting. But good ol' Grampy cooks up an indoor carnival, with an impressive finale flourish! I…

(Spoiler Section Length - 5min 33sec) Disney films are often retroactively classified into various 'eras', with the period between Walt Disney's death and the start of the Renaissance often referred to as 'the Dark Ages'. Despite this ominous moniker, many fan-favorite films exist in this time period, including this very film! But this film is also…

Walt Disney famously hated sequels, though this wasn't an opinion he always held. At one point in time he was all for creating sequels to the hit cartoon Three Little Pigs, but when each short proved to be diminishing returns (at least financially), it contributed to his dislike of the concept of sequels. But looking back at this, the 2nd sequel in…

(Spoiler Section Length - 5min 42sec) Today we cover another movie from Cartoon Saloon, creators of The Secret of Kells and also a lot of other things, some of which - like a short for the Star Wars anthology series Visions - have come out since we covered their first film. Their studio only continues to put interesting and beautiful works out, onl…

Some pieces of media — be they cartoon shorts, feature length films, or even whole seasons of television — are worth watching a particular moment. That moment could be as short as a single seconds-long scene or as long as an entire episode, but something about it manages to massively exceed the quality level of the media it's a part of. Today, we h…

(Spoiler Section Length - 16min 35sec) Some movies are known for being massively successful, massively influential, and pillars of their respective genre... and yet also get watched less and less as the years go by, as though knowledge of their reputation is enough and watching the actual film is no longer needed. In many ways, it feels like Akira …

Though Tex Avery tends to be known for his more violent, slapstick and sometimes horny cartoons, the man was also capable of making cartoons that were strangely sweet. This is perhaps the most well-known example, though don't let the 'sweet' description fool you into thinking the short is devoid of laughs. Featuring a jazz-singing owl, disappointed…

(Spoiler Section Length - 12min 34sec) Like Ranma 1/2 before, this time we're covering another animated film that's tied to a long-running animated series! Unlike that movie, which was fairly standalone, this film is actually a direct continuation of Steven Universe, taking place after that series' finale. Like the show that spawned it, there's lot…

Popeye is back, and he's got a baby this time! Trying to be a pal to Olive Oyl, Popeye takes little Swee'Pea to the zoo, but this baby has a habit of running loose and causing problems that it's up to Popeye to fix. This is one of those cartoons that's alright overall but has one particular moment that makes you laugh out loud. Does that moment mak…

(Spoiler Section Length - 3min 24sec) We've watched several half-hour shorts for Mickey and his friends before, but we've never seen the mouse feature in a full-length film... until today! That's right, Mickey and his pals are Musketeers, on a feature-length adventure of daring-do and classical music. The gang's all here - Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Mi…

Mickey's pals Donald and Goofy might be swiftly gaining in popularity, but at least in 1936, Mickey himself wasn't down for the count yet! This time we have a Through the Looking Glass inspired romp in store for Disney's favorite mouse, with Mickey dancing, playing and fighting over the course of the short. It's all a dream and Mickey knows it, so …

Yep, we've still got more Jungle Book! But this particular version came out the same year as the original Disney movie... or at least the first part of it did. That's right, this is actually a series of shorts that can be viewed together for a movie experience, and in some cases is actually edited together that way. This is a wildly different take …

The Happy Harmonies series is an oft-forgotten series of shorts that largely serve as a vehicle for the increasingly racist depictions of former Looney Tunes star Bosko, and also a bunch of cartoons that ape the sensibilities of Disney's Silly Symphonies series. Which is to say, it's oft-forgotten because there is not much there of quality to remem…

(Spoiler Section Length - 22min 50sec) Mamoru Hosoda is back, and this time, like his previous Digimon films, he's working on a previously existing series, rather than his own original work. One Piece is a long-running series with many, many movies under its belt, both before and after this, and a legacy stretching over 25 years. Its creator is of …

Tex Avery is at it again over at Warner Bros, and this time Porky Pig isn't just a side character, but the star! This little pig just wants some soda, but also there's a serial bomber on the loose, and of course the two end up meeting. Does this reach the heights of Avery's last Looney Tune, and perhaps more importantly, does it avoid the racist lo…

(Spoiler Section Length - 5min 6sec) Can a pig and a spider be friends? And can a pig and a goose be brothers? Can a little girl understand what animals are saying when they talk to each other? All these questions and more have answers in this classic movie that all three of our hosts have great nostalgia for. But nostalgia can be dangerous... not …

Popeye starts off our look at cartoon shorts in the year 1936, with him, Bluto and Olive Oyl heading up to the snowy mountains for shenanigans! The Popeye shorts are increasingly becoming the Fleischer Brother's premier series, eclipsing the still-ongoing Betty Boop series by this point. Does this short show why the series gained such dominance, or…

We reach the end of our Disney Jungle Book journey, and who better to join us for that end, but the person who was there at the beginning? Marie is back! Unlike the 90s films, this one is part of the current slew of Disney 'live action' remakes, though like The Lion King's remake, this one is often more animated than not. The main live action perfo…

The Jungle Book train rolls on! This time we take a look at the two live-action 90's efforts, both of which seem to be largely forgotten nowadays. While one was released in theaters and with a big budget, not unlike the more recent 2016 remake, the other was a direct-to-video endeavor, closer to a Disney channel original movie in terms of money spe…

Betty Boop's future boyfriend Bimbo has committed a crime: chicken theft. For this, a singing band of ghost and ghouls will force him to repent, or kill him trying. This is a wild cartoon from 1930 that was missed before, but felt worth going back to, in order to see the genesis of shorts like Minnie the Moocher. Is this ancient cartoon still any g…

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 2sec) Oh, low-budget Disney animated sequels, we meet again! To say the Disney sequel craze of the mid-90s to mid-2000s was a mixed bag is... actually surprisingly controversial. Most people seem to just think they're all trash. But we here at "How's It Hold Up?" know better than that. Return of Jafar slaps. So with e…

It's time for Mickey Mouse and all his friends to have some fun on the ice! Everyone's here: Minnie, Pluto, Donald and Goofy (and even Clarabelle and Horace, in a cameo), and almost all of them are up to their own thing. The short is somewhat divided up into multiple smaller parts, including Mickey teaching Minnie to skate, Goofy trying to fish and…

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 2sec) Our friend Marie joins us for a movie for which we've all got nostalgia! Featuring a jazzy soundtrack, xerox animation and a Kipling-penned story, this movie has all the makings of a classic. But do all these things come together to form a quality whole, or has our nostalgia let us down again? Listen to find out…

We talk a lot about directors, when it comes to cartoon shorts. But they're far from the only important aspects that shape a cartoon. The studio, the budget, the time, the writers, the animators - all of it and more adds up to the finished product that we see on our screens. So what happens, then, if we take two shorts, both directed by the same ma…

Sequels to animated films have a generally bad reputation, which is probably mostly due to the wealth of cheap sequels made in the 90s and early 2000s, both for Disney and non-Disney properties. And while it's true that few if any of these sequels ever manage to surpass the original, certainly some of them prove to be worthwhile in their own right.…

Sometimes a simple story with a fun execution is really all it takes to make something fun. That is, at least, what this short seems to be going for, with a standard Romeo/Juliet story of warring kingdoms and star-crossed lovers, but with an execution involving anthropomorphic instruments and artillery that shoots music notes. Does this all come to…

(Spoiler Section Length - 6min 44sec) We start our movies this year with one directed by Isao Takahata! This one's a comedic slice-of-life involving a young girl and her weird life of fighting cats, yakuza, and separated parents. It's a weird one to be sure, but in the end, is it any good? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/po…

We're back for 2024, starting off strong with a cartoon that a certain co-host watched SO MUCH as a child. It's a Mickey Mouse cartoon where he goes on a pesticide-fueled drug trip and gets terrorized (along with Pluto) by bugs. So many parts of it are stuck forever in Danika's head, but does that make it good? Does this cartoon from her youth hold…

We end our 2024 Holliganza with another nostalgic classic - a 1980's claymation christmas special starring talking dinosaurs and The California Raisins. Due to the latter, one could uncharitably call the special a glorified commercial, but given the relatively small amount of screentime they receive, we would hesitate to agree. Also their version o…

Sometimes when you dive into your nostalgic past, you find horrors lying in the deep. Media that you know you enjoyed and watched repeatedly, yet looking at it now you wonder how. Sometimes those piece of media are so bad that youtubers who make a career out of reviewing bad pieces of media cover it. Today, we watch The Christmas Tree. --- Support …

It's time for Holliganza 2023! We're starting off strong... in that this is a movie that one of our cohosts has very strong feelings toward. Are they good feelings? Is this Adam Sandler comedy combined with a Hannukah holiday tale enjoyable? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/howsitholdup/support…

Popeye is back and he's leading his own band now! Unfortunately for him, so is Bluto... right in the neighboring room. This is another music-focused Popeye short, though it's not a musical like last time. Does it hold its own among the shorts we've watched from 1935? Listen to find out! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s…

(Spoiler Section Length - 16min 34sec) Sometimes there's a movie from your childhood that you really loved, but you're worried about rewatching, because you know the general consensus on the film is that it's no good. And then you watch the film, and you find that the critics aren't exactly wrong, but you still like the messy movie anyway. And then…

One thing that hasn't been brought up much when we discuss old cartoon shorts is the music, especially by way of theme songs. They've existed, but we have yet to truly hear some of the most iconic, such as the Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies themes. Well today marks the first time we get to hear one of them, though not serving as a theme song yet. …

(Spoiler Section Length - 3min 30sec) Here we have another movie by Nelvana, and also another movie based on a licensed property. Said property is perhaps a little less well known than the Care Bears, but it has a more storied legacy, too. Babar the Movie is actually part of the Babar animated series that aired in the late 80s, but fortunately know…