Probably the most famous thing about this “Censored Eleven” cartoon, is that this one was directed by Chuck Jones. It’s also the one I’m the most conflicted about. On the one hand, I have to admire the short for its extremely dark and surprisingly mean spirited premise and taking it pretty far. On the other hand, this short also contains some of the more blatantly racist jokes out of the entire eleven cartoons. And it does have some of the tenets of what makes Chuck Jones such a great director, such as his playing the facial reactions of the characters in a unique and funny way. But still, those race related jokes are pretty darn awful here. And most of the other ones in the other cartoons don’t really bother me as much, but for some reason, there was just something about the jokes in this one that really, really bothered me and I can’t quite put my finger on why this one in particular struck a nerve. Aside from those few jokes, the cartoon is quite good, which just makes the whole thing all the more tragic. Unless you want to be a completionist this is one that I have very strong reservations about recommending.
Rating: 3/5
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