The Mongrel Animation Blog

The Twisted Tales of Felix The Cat

'The Twisted Tales of Felix The cat' was an animated show that was released in the year 95 and ran on CBS for 2 seasons.

The show's production house, Film Roman (responsible for shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Garfield & Friends etc) did a commendable job of mixing up old school, silent era style animation with a more modern look.

While it also unabashedly displayed a very evident throwback to the Max Flescher style of art and story telling. With heavy emphasis on surrealism, grittiness, dark humor, sexuality etc.

Although the show ran for a mere 2 seasons, it managed to make a considerable impact on my impressionable mind as a kid and undoubtedly left a mark on my art style.


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Mickey's Garden





My brazen appreciation of old school, traditional animation is constantly reinforced when I revisit the classics. And 'Mickey's Garden' is no exception to that rule.

Released in the year 1935, 'Mickey's Garden' is Mickey Mouse's second cartoon.

It also happens to be the first cartoon in which Mickey is heard talking briefly (voiced by Walt Disney himself) and probably the oldest cartoon I have seen that references a psychedelic trip.

Any animation fan that relishes the subtle nuances of the art of moving pictures will be astonished by the refinement and attention to detail when it comes to the movements of the characters. Everything seems so life-like and moves ever so fluidly.

The visual story-telling aspect of this short episode is beyond amazing.

It blows my mind to see how so much could be expressed with almost no dialogues.

Most of the length of the episode is dictated by brilliant orchestra music acting as the pulse of the show. The backgrounds are beautifully rendered paintings that could not be executed by anyone other than someone with a keen appreciation for still life and naturally occuring organic forms.

I highly recommend this episode to anyone who desperately needs a break from all the modern, over produced animation and seeks to put their brain into auto-pilot for a little over 8 minutes.

The episode is available for viewing on youtube so there's no excuse for you to miss it.