We're into our fourth short now with The Practical Pig. Let's have some fun on Three Little Pigs Thursday here on Classic Shorts Showcase. Join me as I take a look at this short.
The Plot
I'm not certain but I think that this is the first short in the Pigs series that does not appear to be based on any other fable but rather an original tale. The main plot here is Practical is building a lie detector to find another way to defeat the Wolf and as always his brothers are laughing at him and decide to go to the pond to go swimming but Practical warns against it as the Wolf is near. As usual, Fifer & Fiddler do not listen to their brother and once again are caught by The Wolf and taken back to his hideout but he isn't going to cook them until he gets Practical. The plot for this short was nice and flowed nicely with the previous short in this retrospective and felt more like a sequel than the first sequel short.
Characters
Just like last time, I'll be breaking this down into Main, & Villains. I think that you can also figure out by now that Fifer & Fiddler will be grouped together.
Main Characters
Practical
Finally, Practical had plenty of screen time in this short. Partially due to the fact that he is the titular character. In this short, he has the most interaction with the Wolf as the Wolf dresses himself up as a Messenger Boy but Practical doesn't fall for it. Practical had installed a Lie Detector as I said and he uses it against the Wolf which is hysterical. Each time, the Wolf lies it puts soap in his mouth and spanks him with a brush. It is funny and it shows how well equipped Practical is machinery. Also Practical finally got back at his brothers using this machine against them for disobeying him. It was nice to see them finally get punished for their actions.
Fifer & Fiddler
Once again Fifer & Fiddler were the usual troublemakers who disobeyed the wishes of their older brother by going swimming. Just like last time, they were caught by the Wolf and taken back to his hideout to be eaten. They seemed more fearful this time but I didn't fear for them as much in this short as I did the last because well, again I knew the outcome and the situation didn't seem as dire. Although it was funny seeing the Three Little Wolves trying to eat them while Big Bad was away. One nice touch is that they escaped on their own without help from their brother but that does not mean their punishment at the end of the short was undeserved. Like I said last time, I was surprised with how much Practical put up with his brothers' antics but in this short with that Lie Detector, it seems as though he finally reached his boiling point.
Villains
Three Little Wolves
The Three Little Wolves return in this short and surprisingly, they worked better in this short than they did in their own titular short. Part of it though came from the fact that they had more solo interaction with Fifer & Fiddler while Big Bad had more interaction with Practical. It worked out nicely and this actually showed how cunning and ruthless they could be. They didn't feel just like henchmen in this short but rather actual capable villains.
The Big Bad Wolf
The Wolf as usual was great and I actually think this is the most brutal beat down that he has gotten in any of the shorts and it certainly lasted the longest. He was his usual self and worked well in the short. There isn't too much to say about him in this short as he doesn't really need to though. Two things that I picked up on though is that in the last three shorts, The Wolf has dressed up in drag and another thing I noticed is at one point, The Wolf sounded eerily like Pete. Though that shouldn't be too surprising given that Billy Bletcher, the voice of The Wolf was also the the voice of The Wolf.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, this was a decent short but not as strong as the previous short. It was still fun to watch and I suggest that you check it out. Again, it's not as strong but it is nice to see Fifer & Fiddler finally get punished. Also Practical gets the most amount of screen time in this short, which I'm okay with. Join me next time, when I take a look at a Three Little Pigs short that is rather unique. Join me when I review
The Thrifty Pig
The Plot
I'm not certain but I think that this is the first short in the Pigs series that does not appear to be based on any other fable but rather an original tale. The main plot here is Practical is building a lie detector to find another way to defeat the Wolf and as always his brothers are laughing at him and decide to go to the pond to go swimming but Practical warns against it as the Wolf is near. As usual, Fifer & Fiddler do not listen to their brother and once again are caught by The Wolf and taken back to his hideout but he isn't going to cook them until he gets Practical. The plot for this short was nice and flowed nicely with the previous short in this retrospective and felt more like a sequel than the first sequel short.
Characters
Just like last time, I'll be breaking this down into Main, & Villains. I think that you can also figure out by now that Fifer & Fiddler will be grouped together.
Main Characters
Practical
Finally, Practical had plenty of screen time in this short. Partially due to the fact that he is the titular character. In this short, he has the most interaction with the Wolf as the Wolf dresses himself up as a Messenger Boy but Practical doesn't fall for it. Practical had installed a Lie Detector as I said and he uses it against the Wolf which is hysterical. Each time, the Wolf lies it puts soap in his mouth and spanks him with a brush. It is funny and it shows how well equipped Practical is machinery. Also Practical finally got back at his brothers using this machine against them for disobeying him. It was nice to see them finally get punished for their actions.
Fifer & Fiddler
Once again Fifer & Fiddler were the usual troublemakers who disobeyed the wishes of their older brother by going swimming. Just like last time, they were caught by the Wolf and taken back to his hideout to be eaten. They seemed more fearful this time but I didn't fear for them as much in this short as I did the last because well, again I knew the outcome and the situation didn't seem as dire. Although it was funny seeing the Three Little Wolves trying to eat them while Big Bad was away. One nice touch is that they escaped on their own without help from their brother but that does not mean their punishment at the end of the short was undeserved. Like I said last time, I was surprised with how much Practical put up with his brothers' antics but in this short with that Lie Detector, it seems as though he finally reached his boiling point.
Villains
Three Little Wolves
The Three Little Wolves return in this short and surprisingly, they worked better in this short than they did in their own titular short. Part of it though came from the fact that they had more solo interaction with Fifer & Fiddler while Big Bad had more interaction with Practical. It worked out nicely and this actually showed how cunning and ruthless they could be. They didn't feel just like henchmen in this short but rather actual capable villains.
The Big Bad Wolf
The Wolf as usual was great and I actually think this is the most brutal beat down that he has gotten in any of the shorts and it certainly lasted the longest. He was his usual self and worked well in the short. There isn't too much to say about him in this short as he doesn't really need to though. Two things that I picked up on though is that in the last three shorts, The Wolf has dressed up in drag and another thing I noticed is at one point, The Wolf sounded eerily like Pete. Though that shouldn't be too surprising given that Billy Bletcher, the voice of The Wolf was also the the voice of The Wolf.
My Final Thoughts
In the end, this was a decent short but not as strong as the previous short. It was still fun to watch and I suggest that you check it out. Again, it's not as strong but it is nice to see Fifer & Fiddler finally get punished. Also Practical gets the most amount of screen time in this short, which I'm okay with. Join me next time, when I take a look at a Three Little Pigs short that is rather unique. Join me when I review
The Thrifty Pig
I checked it out just now, this short felt like a crazy parade without a rest, while the first one was nicely paced! The Big Bad Wolf's disguises are ridiculous as always, but I felt so sorry for the Wolf. I find Practical's machine much more "practical" than the last one in Three Little Wolves. :) It was a great review and the next pig short looks so interesting!
ReplyDeleteThis is a strange little short if you haven't seen the others but I felt no sympathy fot the. Wolf.
ReplyDelete