"This is the story of Gerald McCloy, and the strange thing that happened to that little boy."

Gerald McBoing Boing was the brainchild of Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss.)  He invented the character and released the story on a record, but it didn't sell well.  Seuss still believed in the idea, and thought that maybe a cartoon was the way to go.  He had contributed some scripts to the Private Snafu cartoons during WWII, and he looked up some of the people he had worked with at that time.  A deal was made and he sold the concept to UPA (United Productions of America).  They turned the Seuss story into a cartoon which went on to win critical acclaim and even an Academy Award.  They followed this first short up with three more, and then created a TV show which was the first animated show to be shown in prime time (beating out the Flintstones by a couple of years.)  Columbia has now released all four theatrical cartoons on DVD entitled Cartoon Adventures Staring Gerald McBoing Boing.  Though the later three don't have the charm and inventive word play of the first short, these are still fun cartoons.

Gerald McBoing Boing (1950):  Gerald McCloy is a normal young child except for one thing, instead of saying words, he speaks in sound effects.  His parents are worried and try to find a school that will take him, but it's no use.  Noone can train young Gerald to speak.  Distraught at being different, Gerald runs away from home.  Things quickly change though when Harold runs into the owner of a radio station.  He's instantly hired to do the sound effects for their radio show, and soon becomes quite famous as Gerald McBoing Boing.

This is an excellent cartoon.  The rhyming narration penned by Dr. Seuss fit well with minimalist style of the animation itself to make a creative and entertaining short.  The animation style was quite bold for 1950 when Disney's lavish productions were the pinnacle to which all cartoons strived.  Instead of trying to make a detailed and intricate image, UPA went the other way and animated a very minimal cartoon with limited backgrounds dominated by flat colors and simple characters.  This works very well and they would continue to use this style for all but the last cartoon that was created.

Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo (1955): Gerald is kidnaped by a flying saucer and taken to the planet Moo.  Here he meets the king, who thinks that everyone on Earth speaks like Gerald.  Imitating his sounds, the king assumes he's speaking the language of Earth.  Gerald and the King go back to Gerald's home planet where the officials, after hearing the king speak, assumes that everyone from planet Moo speaks with the strange boing boings that Gerald does.  Naturally the Earthlings all start "boinging" too.

This was a departure from the sparse animation style and rhyming dialog that the other shows had.  This doesn't seem like a Gerald McBoing Boing cartoon because of that.  Though it was nominated for an Academy Award, this was the least interesting short on the disc.

Gerald McBoing Boing's Symphony (1952): Gerald is still working for the radio station when the orchestra calls in sick.  The owner gives the score to Gerald and asks if he can mimic all of the parts.  Without anything else to do, they put him on the air, and Gerald does a good job.  Until he drops the score and gets it mixed up with his sound effects cues that is.

One of the funnier shows aside from the first one.  The concert Gerald gives is very amusing and well done.

How Now Boing Boing (1954): Gerald's parents take him to a famous voice coach so that he can learn to speak like everyone else.

This one was just so-so.  The jokes were fairly predictable, and it just didn't have the charm that the earlier two shows had.  Still worth watching though.

All four theatrical Gerald McBoing Boing releases are included on this single sided DVD.  For some strange reason, they are not presented in chronological order.  The last cartoon in the series is the second one on the disc.  The cartoons are less than ten minutes each, and the whole disc has a run time of less than half an hour.

Audio:

The two channel mono sound wasn't that exciting.  There was a very narrow range, and it sounded a bit muddled.  The music wasn't as clear and tight as it should have been. This wasn't a huge problem, it just wasn't a very high fidelity recording.

Video:

The full frame video (with the exception of Gerald McBoing Boingon Planet Moo which is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer) looks very good.  The colors are bright and the lines are tight.  There are a few spots here and there on the print, but these are minimal.  Digital defects are nonexistent.  A nice looking disc.

Extras:

The bonus section is disappointing.  The only extra is a set of previews.

Final Thoughts:

These cartoons started off strong (I'm talking from a chronological order here, not the way they are presented on the DVD) and go down hill over the course of time.  The original Gerald McBoing Boing is worth the price of the disc, especially for fans of animation or Dr. Seuss.  Kids will most probably enjoy this disc too.  My biggest complaint is that there's only half an hour of content with no extras.  They should have packaged these shorts along with the thirteen episodes of Gerald's TV show to make a better package.  Though I enjoyed these shows, I can't see myself getting this disc out very often.  It would make an excellent rental though.