Review of Mr Men: The Complete Original Series 1

Introduction

The original series of the children`s cartoon, originally broadcast in 1974, featuring 13 episodes featuring narration by Arthur Lowe. Stories include: Mr. Happy, assimilating his miserable brethren into the world of compulsive grinning. Mr. Silly fulfills his reputation. Nerve-stricken Mr. Jelly faces his fears. Mr. Snow (aka, um, a snow-man) helps out Santa. Mr Happy clone Mr. Bounce emanates an infuriating repertoire of boingy noises. Short-term memory impaired Mr. Forgetful unwisely ferries about messages for a lazy policeman. Mr. Funny goes `Patch Adams` on a group of helpless zoo animals. Mr. Bump courts the relentless wrath of Mother Nature. There`s Mr. Tickle, a pathological perv with long arms obsessed with tickling schoolchildren. Mr. Small lives under a daisy, nursing his inferiority complex whilst contemplating a career restart. Trailer trash anarchist Mr. Messy is made-over by a couple of busy-body neat-freaks. Mr Greedy stuffs his fat face whilst belatedly learning about the trappings of gluttony. Alarming walking firework Mr. Sneeze meets a wizard who bestows patently false information about the common cold.

Video

Vibrant, distinctive, cut-price animation is too boldly simplistic to screw up too badly, but Delta Music do their best.

Audio

Atrocious. You`ll probably get used to it enough to discern Arthur Lowe`s voice-over, but it sounds like an audio track from the days of the wireless. Subtitles would have helped. No dice.

Features

Nothing.

Conclusion

Okay, to be, `the critic`, for a moment: the stories mostly avoid conformist, developmental moralising: Mr. Forgetful is just forgetful, period. The tales that do resort to status quo sermonising do so with a gentle prodding rather than the sledgehammer propaganda we`ve come to expect: although Mr. Happy`s "turn that frown upside-down" solution to depression is insulting even to the mentality of a pre-adolescent. Most of the stories are simple, eager constructions, and whilst a few represent a distinct drought of imagination (Mr. Snow, what`s with that?) others, like the mummified blue pill Mr. Bump, have a certain whimsical charm. Meanwhile on voice-over duties, Arthur Lowe etches on the memory too, bringing warmth and humour to his narration with a unflappable enthusiasm.

However, a cynicism and depressing undercurrent pervades this shoddy, cheap-skate release. Is it rash to suppose that the main market for this disc isn`t the 3-5s? That its appearance has as much to do with the seemingly exponential spread of culty, regressives as the pre-schoolers? Indeed, whilst the tots may be kept amused for a few frames, it`s unlikely to captivate them long enough to justify a purchase. Equally, in nostalgia terms, like most of its ilk, it sparks only fleeting, tacit responses. At any rate, ketamine-tweaking CS students, small children who don`t know better and 25-35 year old retro couples with t-shirts folded into terracotta photo frames and chili-pepper fairy-lights carouseled around a potted eucalyptus will probably love it. Personally, it made me want to tip my inner-child off a bridge. Enjoy!