Movie Info:
Writers: Seth MacFarlane
Director: Various
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Danny Smith, John Viener, and numerous others
Rating: Uncensored
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: September 9, 2008
DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $14.99

Seth MacFarlane is a funny guy. I like Family Guy a whole lot. I’m not too big on American Dad, but his other stuff is funny enough to make me watch what he does and look out for what he is doing in the future. That’s one of the reasons that I thought Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy would be funny. I thought it would be interesting and somewhere along the same vein as Family Guy. It’s actually a lot different.

First off, there are no set characters. There are celebrity caricatures ranging all the way from Dick Cheney to Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner, but steady characters aren’t happening here. Second, these are shorts. When I say short, I mean like generally 30 seconds or less short. One sentence short. Not enough to make anyone laugh short. Then there is the small issue of the humor itself. This feels like it was written by a prepubescent boy that is locked in his closet with a boner and his mom’s Sears catalogue.

There is no real nice way to say this. Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is awful. I feel like I lost an hour of my life. Well, being fair I should say 54 minutes of my life. I can’t get those minutes back, but I wish I could. As I sat here watching, having learned what to expect after about one minute, I began counting the minutes in my head. Occasionally I would pause to laugh. It wasn’t often enough to mention really. It wasn’t often enough at all.

Trying to be objective, I think the main problem with Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is the repetitive dynamic. There might be one short that is funny. That short is then redone the same exact waym but with different characters. I don’t know if this was made for people with OCD that need to see the same cartoon 14 different ways, but that is what you end up getting. For those that like a little variety, you might feel ripped off by this. I will admit though, the writing must have been simple. They wrote about four shorts, changed characters 30 times, and viola, they were done!

The Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy Plot
According to the back of the box, “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is brimming with the kind of smart, raunchy, and twisted humor you can’t see on television no matter how hard you try.”

Now let me translate that for you.

“Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is brimming with the kind of humor you can’t see on television no matter how hard you try. This is because it’s one big no-brained, moronic, senseless, non-comedic dick joke.”

That may seem harsh saying that this all boils down to a non-funny dick joke. Its true there is more here than sex with farm animals, Mario, and Dick Cheney. There are poop jokes, too. I don’t have the episode names so I’ll just lay it out for you. There are dick jokes, poop humor jokes, gay humor, and animal jokes that are based on the cartoon characters created by Mel Blanc.

While 54 minutes might not be a long time, you should be thoroughly bored in about 90 seconds.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
I am still trying to figure out why they bothered to put this on Blu-ray in the first place. The animation is crude, at best, and it’s hardly befitting a Blu-ray transfer anyway. Still, they went ahead and put it on Blu-ray anyway and it came out looking mediocre as a result.

Sure, its got 1080p, but the 1.33:1 transfer looks like it’s still on DVD. There are some issues with edge enhancement, the colors are dull, and everything is pretty plain. Blu-rays never end up looking this poor so I can only think that Fox knew this wasn’t worth the effort, too. With that in mind, perhaps they shouldn’t have released it on Blu-ray.

The audio is by far better than the visual quality. Sporting a DTS-HD Master Audio track, things have the ability to sound great. The only problem is you won’t want to listen to this drivel. Well, that and the fact that the track lacks the dynamics you would normally see with this audio. The surround sound is rarely used and while some effects sound nice, these things are few and far between. English is the only available language, but subtitles are available in English, French, and Spanish.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
As you might have guessed, for a Blu-ray that completely fails you in every way and makes you feel like someone lifted money from your wallet for nothing, the special features are not going to be here to save you. In fact, they are equally as trite as the main feature. In this case, the special features consist of a “Red Carpet Premiere” for Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy and Still Galleries. The galleries are offered in three sections, rough character models, cleaned up character models, and color character models.

Once you’ve seen the characters you really don’t need to see the before and after artwork so this is somewhat pointless. After all, even if you do look at it, you won’t continue to do so more than once. As for the “Premiere” it’s filled with fake, but real celebs (that one guy from Heroes) in a four minute segment that attempts to make people believe this is worth watching. In truth, not even this feature is worth watching.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
I am as open minded as they come. However, as I sit here, pondering how much money one person should have to spend for a 54 minute dick joke, I have to think it’s much cheaper than what they expect you to pay for this. Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy has one or two laughs and that’s all it comes down to. You want funny, Seth MacFarlane style? Add a few bucks to this and buy a season of Family Guy. I am not sure why he came up with the idea for this or if this is his version of the Baby’s Day Out breakdown, but it’s not worth watching. Save yourself the trouble and rent it if you must. Otherwise just don’t waste your time.

Overall Rating:

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