Cartoons
make twisted animation
By Oscar Montealegre
On-line Forty-Niner
Just
when you thought cartoons reached their
maximum in displaying violence, the cartoon
“Happy Tree Friends” appears and dismisses
the latter notion, raising the bar between
the juxtaposition of violence and animation.
“Happy Tree Friends” is a new animation
DVD that is now available at college campuses
and retail stores. The DVD title “Happy
Tree Friends, Volume 1 First Blood” was
featured in Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted
Animation Festival. During the festival,
“Happy Tree Friends” was the anchor and
it was exhibited at theatres across the
country.
What is appealing about this new animation
is that the characters are cute and adorable,
resembling dolls that little toddlers play
with. But, looks can be deceiving. About
ten seconds into each episode something
always goes horribly wrong and we witness
the brutal and blood-infested death of the
cuddly cartoon characters.
In one episode titled “Spin Fun Knowing
You”, character Cuddles, Petunia and Giggles
are in a merry-go-round being spun by Lumpy
the moose. However, Lumpy does not realize
that he is spinning the merry-go-round too
fast for the three characters to hold on
to the bars. Therefore, Petunia falls off
to a tree and her body is split in half
due to the impact of the tree. Then Giggles
arms brake off and she is thrown into a
branch that in effect shops her head off.
And then poor Cuddles is flinged into the
propellers of an airplane nearby that was
preparing for takeoff.
In short, blood and intense gore in the
theme of “Happy Tree Friends”. In a weird
way, the violence does contain dose of comedy.
“ ‘Happy Tree Friends’ is a hit. I am saying
it now before they’re on TV. After all these
years, you know then you see somebody whose
got the gift. And these guys have got it,”
Craig “Spike” Decker of the Spike and Mike’s
Sick and Twisted Film Festival said.
“Happy Tree Friends” has been an online
favorite, and was also a hit in the television
debut on MTV’s “Downloaded.” Over 3 million
people have seen “Happy Tree Friends” on
the Internet, and was also featured in Jennifer
Aniston’s film “The Good Girl.”
“This new cartoon is sick. There is so much
blood and violence that it makes me wonder
how violent cartoons are going to be ten
years from now. But ‘Happy Tree Friends’
is really funny and interesting.” Matt Siegel
said, a senior audio engineering student.
“I would love to see a full episode of “Happy
Tree Friends in the future.”
Each episode in the “Happy Tree Friends”
DVD last about 30 seconds to roughly a minute.
The DVD contains 14 episodes, a special
popcorn episode and one bonus episode that
have never been released.
In a bizarre and disgusting fashion, “Happy
Tree Friends” does contain the potential
animation hit. It might just follow the
successful roads of other cartoons such
as the “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” “Ren
and Stimpy” and “Beavis and Butthead.”
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