Best movie ever!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Tex Avery was a wonderful animator and animation director, one of the best there was/is, responsible for many great cartoons and some among the best ever made.Not all his cartoons are fantastic, but even when Avery was not at right at the top of his game, even his lesser cartoons fare better than most. 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' is lesser Avery but worth watching at least once. It is known as one of the "Censored 11" cartoons, and while there are more offensive and duller cartoons of this group it is easy to see why 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' is part of it. It's not a great cartoon but not a travesty.Humour wise, it is very hit and miss. Some of the jokes work and are clever and imaginatively animated, but others sorely needed sharper timing and come off as strained, such as the ship taking the route around the map of the world. The subject it's spoofing is very interesting and works well enough times to still make the cartoon watchable but lacks consistency. Most of the references were recognisable to me so understanding the joke in question didn't present a problem, there were a few that weren't so familiar so they went over my head.Ranking it among the "Censored 11" cartoons, it ranks somewhere around the middle but nowhere near among the worst. Comparing the other "Censored 11" cartoons in regard to dubious content, while there are more offensive cartoons in the group around (like 'Jungle Jitters' and 'Angel Puss') any stereotypes or anything deemed offensive is less than tame here. The Natives are very stereotypically drawn and written with grotesquely ugly character designs (am really starting to grow tired of the over-sized lips), while there is some less than flattering or tasteful language in reference to them in the narration and the musical number (although the music itself is very good) is also not for the easily offended.However, the animation is just wonderful, aside from the character designs of the Natives. A lot of it is beautifully drawn, everything is meticulously detailed especially the backgrounds and vibrantly coloured. Carl Stalling's music score is the highlight, as well as being lushly and cleverly orchestrated it is infectiously lively, characterful and dynamic with the action as well as enhancing it.As said too, some of the jokes and references were easy to get and very amusing (but Avery showed since that his humour was more consistent in quality. Egghead is a likable and fun enough character, and much of the pacing is lively apart from a few dull stretches where some of the jokes feel strained or over-egged. The voice acting is good.In conclusion, some obvious good points but very hit and miss as a cartoon. A lesser effort from Avery, though still watchable. 5.5/10 Bethany Cox

This film is in the style that was popular with Looney Tunes back about 1940 or so. It's one of many fake documentary cartoons and this time it's about the mythical island of Pingo Pongo off the coast of Africa.This is one of almost a dozen cartoons that were pulled from circulation by United Artists back when they owned the rights to these cartoons. Ted Turner continued the ban and I can think of no logical reason why Time-Warner-AOL would change this decision now that they own the rights.The reason I could see for banning this was pretty obvious. The African natives were all giant-lipped with bones through their hair AND they sang a minstrel number--definitely NOT politically correct images! However, while I am NOT a fan of political correctness, I can agree with the powers that be--it is pretty offensive. In addition, I also wouldn't mind seeing the film out of circulation because it's so gosh-darn dull as well! These documentary-style cartoons don't age well and while I might have laughed at much of the humor when I was a kid, now I would just stare at the screen because the jokes are so corny and unfunny--even without the stereotypes. In other words, by pulling this offensive cartoon, we really aren't missing out on much and this is one that isn't really worth your time! If you are curious, though, it and most of the other banned cartoons are available on YouTube and other sources as well.

Many of Tex Avery's cartoons at Warner Bros were parodies of the short subjects that (in those days) were screened during a trip to the movies before the main feature. 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' is a parody of travelogue movies: specifically, the 'Going Places' shorts that Lowell Thomas narrated for Universal. Since modern viewers of this toon are unlikely to be familiar with the original material being parodied, a large amount of the humour is lost.There are also references in this 1938 cartoon to other cultural fixtures of that time, such as the then-popular 'Life Goes to a Party' feature in Henry Luce's weekly magazine, and the wildlife documentaries of Martin and Osa Johnson. Perceptive modern viewers will sense that something is being guyed here, but will be frustrated because they probably don't know the source material.Some of the material here is worse than it needed to be. There's a rather strained gag, depicting a ship taking a circuitous route across a map of the world from the United States to Africa. But the gag is not made funnier by the map's gross inaccuracy. Would it have hurt Leon Schlesinger's production schedule to include an accurate map of the world in that shot? This cartoon has provoked some controversy for racist content. Sure enough, we get the usual dumb jokes about African natives with pneumatic lips and bones in their topknots. I found the jokes mostly so weak that they aren't malicious, but also so weak that they aren't funny. What did offend me here was the narrator's continuous referrals to these African caricatures as 'savages' and 'aborigines'.Even some brilliant Warners toons are seriously weakened by bad running gags ending in limp finishes: a classic example of this problem is 'The Dover Boys', featuring innovative animation, a clever and unusual premise, but an incredibly bad running gag leading into a weak fade-out. Here in 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' we seem to have one more example of that same problem, with Egghead (Tex Avery's proto-Elmer Fudd character) periodically showing up with a violin case and asking the unseen narrator 'Now, boss?'. 'Not yet!' the narrator tells him each time. I had very low expectations for a funny pay-off gag, but I was pleasantly surprised.Lowell Thomas's travelogues always ended in a deep cliché of his own creation: "And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we bid a fond farewell to...". My former mother-in-law recalled for me that, as a moviegoer in the 1930s, she would hear members of the audience reciting these overly-familiar words along with Thomas's narration. In the last few seconds of its screen time, 'The Isle of Pingo Pongo' goes a considerable distance towards redeeming itself with a juicy parody of Thomas's sign-off, giving Egghead a closing gag that turns out to be surprisingly very funny indeed.Unfortunately, modern viewers who aren't familiar with the clichés being parodied here won't get the full effect of the good jokes, but WILL get the full effect of the racial stereotyping. Under the circumstances, my rating for this bad 'un is just 3 out of 10.

This short is the first of several spoofs of the travelogue shorts popular at the time that showcased exotic locales for movie audiences. While a good cartoon, not on a par with later ones such as Detouring America or Crazy Cruise. Avery was still finding his range on the material. Still some good stuff here anyway. This one features Egghead in a running gag that has a funny finish. Enjoyable and entertaining, it's well worth hunting down. Recommended