Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

TheLittleSongbird Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it more even through young adults eyes, thanks to a broader knowledge.Chuck Jones is one of the greatest geniuses in animation history, or at least to me and many others, but 'Inki and the Minah Bird' while still a watchable effort is not one of the best representations of him by any stretch. Once his style was properly found, when his cartoons became much funnier, wittier, more inventively animated and iconic characters introduced and made household names, Jones did go on to much better things. 'Inki and the Minah Bird' having said that is an interesting look at him in his relatively early days.Although Inki is kind of cute and the interaction with the animals is amusing, people are not going to take kindly to the unappealing visual design of the character or the less than flattering stereotypical behaviour. Just to say though, there are far more offensive cartoons and characters about. 'Inki and the Minah Bird' is more mildly amusing rather than laugh-a-minute or among the funniest cartoons around, and there could have been a little more variety in the gags.Story-wise, 'Inki and the Minah Bird' is likable and lively in pace but it is pretty predictable and occasionally does try too hard to be cute that it comes over as sugary.However, the rest of the animation is very good. It's beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant, complete with some great expressions for particularly the lion and shots.Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact. All of those things Stalling was an unparalleled master at in animation, or at least in my view. There are great use of sound effects.'Inki and the Minah Bird' is amiable and amusing enough, the timing is lively and the animals add a good deal. The funniest and most interesting character in the cartoon is the lion, whose rapport with Inki is the highlight. Really like the character of the Minah bird, namely for the perfectly synchronised movement and hopping to Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture cleverly slowed down.Overall, nice and watchable but unexceptional. Doesn't see a genius of his craft at his best or on top form. 6/10 Bethany Cox

JohnHowardReid Players: "Inki", "Minah Bird", "Lion".Director: CHARLES M. JONES. Animators: Robert Cannon, Shamus Culhane. Lay-outs: John McGrew. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.Copyright 31 October 1949 (in notice: 1942) by The Vitaphone Corp. (Which means of course that the film is actually not copyright at all as the statutory period for registering the original copyright had long since expired. However, it would be foolhardy to risk making a copy as Vitaphone have access to some very smart lawyers who could tie you up for years in court). A Warner Bros "Merrie Melodies" cartoon. U.S. release: 13 November 1943. 1 reel. 7 minutes.COMMENT: This "Merrie Melodies" cartoon entry comes across as rather more than somewhat below par. It should in fact really be titled "Inki, the Lion and the Minah Bird". A great deal of the action actually centers on the first two, namely Inki and the Lion - and neither very witty nor smartly paced action it actually is either. Indeed, despite the charm of some of the backgrounds, this entry signally lacks comic invention in both spot gags and situations.

John T. Ryan HITTING THE APPROACH from what could be described as a different angle, this cartoon short subject is as mysterious and even bizarre as any one reeler could be. Introducing us to this new character, young Black Native boy, Inki, the production team hits the ground running. Or rather we should say walking; as the pace is noticeably slower than a more typical LOONIE TUNES/MERRIE MELODIES bot of output.THERE IS SORT of triangle of competition established between little Inki, an over-aged male Lion with dentures and this surreal minah bird. Whenever there is some fast-paced action sequence pitting the little man vs. the king of beasts, the slow and deliberately easy paced minah intervenes passively; his moving through each scene, keeping cadence to the 'tune' of Felix Mendelsohn's THE HEBRDIES (aka FGINGAL'S CAVE Overture).THERE SEEMS TO have been some blacklisting of this cartoon because of the caricature of Inki as being stereotyped and not acceptable in this modern era of ours. This we believe is the bunk.THE CHARACTER DESIGN of the little hunter is a fine example of the merging of some great character traits. True, this little native boy is inept with his hunting; but, that is an expected flaw in the young and inexperienced, regardless of whatever the ethnicity, race or national origin.WE VIEW THE design and handling of the character as innocent fun; that has not even the most remote bit of bigotry in its inception. Inki is a dark skinned little cherub, with all the foibles of the young and inexperienced.

Lee Eisenberg The offensively portrayed Inki continues his hunt throughout the jungle, antagonizing a lion. It's no surprise that cartoons like "Inki and the Minah Bird" are harder to find than Warner Bros.'s most famous cartoons, given how they drew Inki. It's very much a product of the old style Euro-American view of Africa.I get the feeling that these cartoons won't come to DVD anytime soon. If Warner Bros. brings these to DVD, they should put them in a section identifying that these were creations of a pre-conscious era. There were a number of their cartoons like this; others included "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs". Good to see as a historical reference.