The Big Snooze
The Big Snooze
| 12 October 1957 (USA)
The Big Snooze Trailers

Forest ranger Clyde is given an order to make sure the park bears are not disturbed from their winter hibernation. He inspects their cave and finds Chilly Willy trying to sleep among them. He hollers at Chilly not to wake them up, waking one bear up himself. He sends the sleepwalking bear back to bed but it isn't that simple. The bear continues to sleepwalk going on a wild ride through the woods after Chilly gets him to put some skis on. The bear finally stops... and is now sleeping in Clyde's bed. Clyde returns to the cave where all the bears are now sleepwalking and Chilly is giving each one a lit dynamite stick!

Reviews
TheLittleSongbird

Chilly Willy's best cartoons were perfect examples of how a potentially one-joke character and concept could end up actually being a perfect mix of the cute and the funny with a lot of colour and good comic timing to go with it.'The Big Snooze' is really not him at his best though, when you compare this to especially the two Chilly Willy cartoons directed by Tex Avery (two of the best of both Chilly and Avert) the difference in quality is drastic. It's far from bad, but is not a patch on all his previous cartoons and there are far funnier and more inventive cartoons of his that execute their stories with much more imagination and variation without following too much of a formula (though admittedly a few of them were still predictable).A lot of good things still here. The animation does have a lot of luscious colours and handsome backgrounds, Chilly is also well drawn and the setting has a nice atmosphere that suits the formula well. The music is full of lively bounce and character, with luscious orchestration. It not only adds to the action and visuals but enhances them too.Enough of the gags do amuse and it is always remarkable at what Chilly has up his sleeve and how he does it. The chemistry between the characters is fun enough, if not always inspired and the bears are amusing.Chilly is adorable and is also a lot of fun, with his actions speaking far louder than words. Daws Butler delivers some solid voice acting.However, the story is not only predictable but quite repetitive too, this is not exactly new conceptually and little original is done with it. While the gags are amusing and are reasonably well timed they're not exactly hilarious, there have been funnier gags in other Chilly Willy cartoons with more variation.More could have been done with Clyde. Hardly bland and a decent foil, but he's no Smedley, lacking the comic timing and 'The Big Snooze' is an example of Chilly's personality being more interesting than his opponent's (like Chilly a lot but usually it is the opposite). Pacing could have been sharper and the drawing is not always refined and it's a little on the unimaginative side while never looking cheap or ugly.In conclusion, decent if a little lacking. 6/10 Bethany Cox

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