Spike and Mike's Classic Festival of Animation

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of Spike and Mike
Review: Has few of the humorous bits Spike and Mike's work is famous for. It only has a few clips and these are the more "dark," "strange," "artsy," and some "stupid" animation clips that left me feeling "why did I buy this?" Where is snow man inside the "snowy villiage globe" with an igloo trying to reach the mermaid on the same shelf?" Where is the "101 ways to quit smoking?" How about claymation bit of a man "assembling" himself in a room? How about the original Simpsons?

Rating:
Summary: what were they thinking???
Review: I bought this dvd under the false pretenses that it contained THE BEST of spike and mike. FALSE. The cover shows Billy's Balloon which is one of my favorites and the whole reason for my purchasing this dvd, and it isn't even on it. Where's the REAL best of, like beyond grandpa, and yes timmy there is a santa claus? not here. These cartoons are hard enough to find, and when you spend 20 of your hard earned dollars on a product that, overall is incredibly disappointing, it leaves you a little miffed.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of Spike and Mike
Review: I have several animated shorts collections. This is easily the worst. Although it does boast some making-of extras, if little more than half of the animations are worth watching, what's the point?

This DVD does feature some excellent animations, and these are a real treat, but then there are the others ... Who picked these? Supposedly these are the best of the best ("the finest, most charming and humorous"), and the first one (Bambi meets Godzilla) is certainly a classic, but there are lots of animated shorts that I have seen that are so much better than a lot of these.

Another issue: You can play all the animations, or select individual ones, or look at the making-of stuff. However, if you stop and start again later, starting where you left off, after each short it will return you to the "select one" menu, with the cursor not on the next one or the one you just watched, but back up at the top on the first one. So, you get clever, and decide to select the "play all" and just chapter-skip to where you left off. That's fine, it plays the one you want to watch, and then also plays all the making-of stuff for that one (such as indecipirable storyboards). So, if you want to play all but skip the ones you've already seen, just fast fast forward. It'll return to play (normal speed) after the end of each short.

Anyhow, you've gotten this far. Animation collections that are much more deserving of your money include: "The World's Greatest Animation", "Animation Greats", and "More! Animation Greats". The first includes Creature Comforts (done by the Wallace & Gromit guy, by the way W&G is another good DVD) and some other gems. The last two are Canadian animation. Three of the eight on "Animation Greats" are also on "The World's Greatest Animation", as is one of the ten from "More! Animation Greats". I'm sure there are also other worthy DVDs out there, but these are the only ones I have seen.

So, save your money and spend it on something else. Or buy it anyway, and just accept that some of them just aren't going to be that good.

Rating:
Summary: WHY?
Review: I have several animated shorts collections. This is easily the worst. Although it does boast some making-of extras, if little more than half of the animations are worth watching, what's the point?

This DVD does feature some excellent animations, and these are a real treat, but then there are the others ... Who picked these? Supposedly these are the best of the best ("the finest, most charming and humorous"), and the first one (Bambi meets Godzilla) is certainly a classic, but there are lots of animated shorts that I have seen that are so much better than a lot of these.

Another issue: You can play all the animations, or select individual ones, or look at the making-of stuff. However, if you stop and start again later, starting where you left off, after each short it will return you to the "select one" menu, with the cursor not on the next one or the one you just watched, but back up at the top on the first one. So, you get clever, and decide to select the "play all" and just chapter-skip to where you left off. That's fine, it plays the one you want to watch, and then also plays all the making-of stuff for that one (such as indecipirable storyboards). So, if you want to play all but skip the ones you've already seen, just fast fast forward. It'll return to play (normal speed) after the end of each short.

Anyhow, you've gotten this far. Animation collections that are much more deserving of your money include: "The World's Greatest Animation", "Animation Greats", and "More! Animation Greats". The first includes Creature Comforts (done by the Wallace & Gromit guy, by the way W&G is another good DVD) and some other gems. The last two are Canadian animation. Three of the eight on "Animation Greats" are also on "The World's Greatest Animation", as is one of the ten from "More! Animation Greats". I'm sure there are also other worthy DVDs out there, but these are the only ones I have seen.

So, save your money and spend it on something else. Or buy it anyway, and just accept that some of them just aren't going to be that good.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I'll start off by saying that this DVD is REALLY weird. Some might find it stupid, however, those that have a good sense of humor will think it's hilarious. I only gave it four stars, not five, because I have not watched every feature in it and so I don't know if the few I haven't watched are as good. The best features are 'Monkey Vs. Robot' which is very funny and weird, and 'Slim Pickings' which is so sad that it literally made me, and a bunch of teenage guys, cry. The other features are all good, too. I highly recommend this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Not that bad, but still not that good.
Review: This DVD is not, as advertised, "the finest, the most charming and humorous animated shorts" ever. There are some great Spike & Mike shorts that are missing. Where's "Bob's Birthday", "How To Kiss", or any Aardman or Bruno Bozetto shorts. There are some good shorts however; "Bambi Meets Godzilla", "The Queen's Monastairy", "Slim Pickings", and "Panther". "Bsss" and "Graveyard Jamboree With Mysterious Mose" are just okay. The rest range from medicore ("Son of Bambi Meets Godzilla", "Chicken Coop") to just awful ("Barflies" was the most annoying to me). Hope Spike & Mike releases another, better, funnier DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Not that bad, but still not that good.
Review: This DVD is not, as advertised, "the finest, the most charming and humorous animated shorts" ever. There are some great Spike & Mike shorts that are missing. Where's "Bob's Birthday", "How To Kiss", or any Aardman or Bruno Bozetto shorts. There are some good shorts however; "Bambi Meets Godzilla", "The Queen's Monastairy", "Slim Pickings", and "Panther". "Bsss" and "Graveyard Jamboree With Mysterious Mose" are just okay. The rest range from medicore ("Son of Bambi Meets Godzilla", "Chicken Coop") to just awful ("Barflies" was the most annoying to me). Hope Spike & Mike releases another, better, funnier DVD.