Classic Shorts Showcase: Toby Tortoise Returns

Hello & welcome back. Today, I will be taking a look at the sequel to last week's short.  As you recall, I looked at The Tortoise and The Hare last week and today, I'll be looking at Toby Tortoise Returns.  Now I gotta say watching this short, it almost felt like it was like The Roger Rabbit before Roger Rabbit.  The reason I say this is because we have appearances from other Silly Symphony characters such as Fifer, Fiddler, & Practical Pig from The Three Little Pigs,  Elmer Elephant from the short of the same name and Jenny Wren from Who Killed Cock Robin?  There was a very strange moment with her that I'll touch upon later in the review that was cut from later airings of this short and honestly, I can see why.





The Plot


In this short, Max Hare and Toby Tortoise have been taken off the race track and are now in a boxing ring.  Max and Toby are boxing against each other.   Okay, I have to say that this short was a little more mean spirited then the previous short. Whereas in the first short, Max Hare came across as a jerk, he was downright a bully and his ego was even worse.  He came close to being villainous but never actually crossed that line.  I mean for goodness sake, he had the ambulance waiting for Toby.

Now I want to bring up that moment with Jenny Wren. Okay actually are two moments with her that are curious.  The first one not so much really, it's just n innuendo and if you look hard enough, you'll find those in Disney shorts. Not all of them but when there, they are noticeable. Take for example Cupid in Who Killed Cock Robin?  He was very flamboyant and you'd have to be blind not to see that.  The first moment with Jenny Wren occurs at one point when Toby is knocked out of the ring and lands in Jenny's arms err wings and Jenny exclaims.

I like men who take their time.

Yeah, it's as plain as night and day here.  Now the second Jenny moment, which is more of WTH is when at one point, Toby is knocked unconscious and we see what Toby is thinking.

WHAT is going on here?   Toby, I hope you know Jenny has a boyfriend.   And dude, if this is what you think of women, well your coming as across as bit of a pig.   Also look I'm all for not cutting scenes out of shorts such as taking Pecos Bill's cigarette but this had no barring on the overall plot and didn't even need to be in the short. So cutting this is okay in my book and this is one of the few times, where I'll say cutting out a scene is better for the short in question.  The main focus of this short was the boxing match between Max and Toby and for the most part it stayed on that but this moment detracts from that story and can take the audience  out of the moment.  There is no need for this moment to be here.      Other then that, the short was okay.  It didn't go for the moral route like the previous short and instead was just a straight up slapstick short.   And Max was over the top that his defeat was so nice to see and add in that he was defeated because of his plans to take down Toby backfired on him.



Characters


Toby Tortoise voiced by Eddie Holden

Just like the first short, Toby was very likable and this time with all the people laughing at him, you could actually see it get to Toby but it didn't bring him down. Instead,  he used it to build up his stamina to take down Max and show that he isn't someone to mess with.  It was awesome seeing Toby win in the end.




Max Hare voiced by Ned Norton

Okay, let me mention one qualm I have with this short.  I would've thought that Max being beaten by Toby would've instilled in Max to take Toby a bit more seriously but that would've gone against what the short was going for in the end.  As I said, this time around, Max was over the top with his actions that we basically a bully, Making his demise all the more rewarding.





My Final Thoughts



This short is funnier then the last one as that is what it was going for.  Does that make it better?  No, it doesn't.  The comedy in this short while good does not make up for the fact that the story wasn't as strong and I feel bad saying that. It's not a bad short, mind you. I just don't think it was as good as the original.