Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

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CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

nodogthebest One of the many "objects coming to life" cartoons created at Warner Bros., this one focuses on magazines coming to life at a drug store. It's interesting to note that director Frank Tashlin would do a very similar cartoon to this one year after the initial release of this cartoon, "Have You Got Any Castles" -- but moving onto the cartoon I'm reviewing anyways...The cartoon focuses on music, puns on popular magazines of the time, and celebrity caricatures -- notably Hugh Herbert, who pops up giggling throughout the short. Note that in the magazine Hugh appears, it is mentioned that "he produces his devastating giggle with a feather duster worn strapped to the sole of his left foot."The story is a rather basic one, focusing on the magazines in the first half, and then a thug is introduced who causes ruckus in the second half of the cartoon. However, it doesn't sound as boring as you would think. Tashlin uses the magazines in some rather creative ways, and while some of the puns are corny and predictable, I love them myself anyways. Tashlin also adds more chemicals to the cartoon by making use of his fast-paced editing (although mainly done in the ending), and in a couple of cases, interesting perspectives, which makes the transitions from scene to scene feel neatly done yet action-packed.For a cartoon with a big focus on music, Carl Stalling certainly gets the job done, with excellent renditions of popular tunes of the time. The vocals are nicely done as usual. The original animation is crisp and in some scenes, add more to the gags; a good chunk of animation in this cartoon is reused from other cartoons, however.Overall, Speaking of the Weather, while somewhat generic and not quite utilizing Frank Tashlin's techniques to the fullest, is worth a watch.

TheLittleSongbird It is agreed that 'Speaking of the Weather' is not as good as 'Have You Got any Castles' and especially 'Book Revue', cartoons that execute their concept more cleverly and with slightly more energy and surprises.However, 'Speaking of the Weather' is still a very good cartoon. What immediately stands out is how visually stunning it is, the lush and vibrant colours do positively leap out as you, the backgrounds are handsomely and imaginatively detailed and while not quite as smooth as 'Have You Got any Castle' and 'Book Revue' the drawings are fluid and appealing.Carl Stalling's music is always a highlight in every cartoon he scored for, even if the cartoon itself is not quite so great. His scoring elevates everything to a greater level, with everything beautifully orchestrated with clever use of instruments and energetic rhythms that never loses character or momentum, it's not only dynamic to what's happening, it enhances it and Stalling was a master at this.What's also great about 'Speaking of the Weather' is that it is very funny. The titles are truly inspired and the caricatures are so much fun to spot and easily recognisable if familiar with them, admittedly though the caricatures/references in 'Have You Got any Castles' and 'Book Revue' are more easy to recognise and is less likely to go over people's heads if familiar with the literary classics. The William Powell and Hugh Herbert caricatures are especially noteworthy.Do agree that the story is basic and very easy to figure out what will happen next, especially if you are familiar with cartoons that explore the same, or a similar, concept, which is the case with me, having grown up with the two cartoons being compared with and pretty much only got acquainted with this. It is still paced nicely and all the gags are timed well. The voice acting is spot on from Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher, both with multiple characters.In summary, very good cartoon and lots of fun, even if there are other cartoons with the same, or similar, concept and did it with more energy and imagination. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Lee Eisenberg One of the many Warner Bros. cartoons portraying inanimate objects coming to life (others include "Little Dutch Plate", "Have You Got Any Castles?" and "Book Revue"), "Speaking of the Weather" focuses on magazines putting on a most splendiferous show. But when a shady character starts committing crimes, everyone has to take charge.This genre reminds me just a little bit of Stephen King's novels (note: this is a VERY loose connection). As we see azoic objects coming to life and taking on their own personalities, Stephen King's novels often portrayed lifeless objects coming to life; think "The Shining" and "Christine".OK, so it's probably pretty ridiculous to suggest that a series of zany cartoons could have any true relationship to a series of horrific novels. I look for connections just about anywhere. Overall, I liked this cartoon both as a 1930s time capsule, and as entertainment. I recommend it.

Robert Reynolds A gimmick that Warner Brothers animators used quite often was the idea that characters/images come to life after business hours off of magazine covers, books or even grocery store labels and boxes. Quite often, they used caricatures of celebrities who would have been well-known to audiences in those days and they did so here, though not every character in this one is a caricature. I can't swear to it, but I suspect that all of the magazine titles featured in this one actually existed. I recognized most of them as having been magazines available on newsstands and elsewhere. The rest of my comments may contain spoilers, so you have been warned: The plot is pretty basic and predictable. What makes this cartoon interesting is the juxtaposition of titles to make up gags, like a crook coming out of "The Gang" and passing "Popular Mechanics" to grab a torch and having "Wall Street" close by, with a safe on the cover to crack. Charlie Chan captures him, he's tried by the "Judge" and sentenced to "Life", but manages to sneak over to "Liberty" in order to make his escape. Things like that come together frequently.A lot of the standard caricatures are here (including Ned Sparks-it must have been a requirement to have Ned Sparks appear somewhere in one of these, as he's in most of the ones I've seen) and you'll be treated to the likes of Leopold Stowkowski, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Hugh Herbert and others. William Powell is here as Nick Charles from "The Thin Man", along with his dog Asta. Everyone from the Boy Scouts to Santa Claus joins in on the chase when the villain escapes. How he is caught is hilarious and I won't spoil that gag. There's a cute ending involving Hugh Herbert as well.This short is on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 3 and is well worth getting. The Collections themselves are extremely well done and worth every penny. Recommended.