Thanks for the memories!

Sorry, this movie sucks

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Fantastic!

Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)*** (out of 4) Extremely entertaining Merrie Melodies short has a familiar plot but it's taken to the limit here. The animated film pretty much takes place on a book shelf as various forms of literature comes to life. We get various stories including Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The House of Seven "Gables", So Big, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Little Women, The Thin Man, The Good Earth and countless others. The animation is quite good throughout this short with a lot of great attention to various details. There are a few Hollywood celebs who make appearances here including W.C. Fields and a funny spoof with Clark Gable. Mel Blanc does fine work in the form of several of the characters but we'd come to expect nothing less. What really makes this film stand apart from countless others that tried the same story is the actual music, which is incredibly entertaining. Carl W. Stalling and Milt Franklyn hit all the right notes and really keep the action moving. Everything mixed together makes this one of the better ways to tell this familiar stories so fans of animation or any of the books mentioned should have a grand time.

I have always loved this short, ever since I was a little girl. I had a copy of it on VHS along with a few others, but this one was always my favorite. I was very disenhearted when my father donated the VHS that this short was on to the library, as he felt then 11 year old me was "too old" for cartoons. After many years of having not seen it, however, I was tickled when I found it in a DVD set. I enjoyed it as much as I did then, if not more so. I would recommend "Have You Got Any Castles" to anyone. It is cleverly put together and well done, and the caricatures are spot on. The animation is colourful and very well done, with more creativity put into this than many modern animated features today.

If cartoon characters can interact with each other in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", why not literary characters? Instead of producing another wacky cartoon about Bugs Bunny, Tweety or another silly character, Merry Melodies did a wise move in crafting a musical/short story about book characters.Opening with a dance number with Mr. Hyde, Fu Man Chu, the Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein, it next moves to Green Pastures, Old King Cole, Louis Pasteur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Heidi etc. etc.But the interaction is also interesting. For example, Thin Man becomes fat after visiting a cook book, Rip Van Winkle tries to prevent himself from hearing Old King Cole...After that, a plot develops: the Three Musketeers steal the 7 keys to Baldpate in order to free the Prisoner of Zenda. They are instantly chased and they have to flee from the cannons of the Light Brigade, Robinson Crusoe and All Quiet on the Western Front. Ultimately, Rip Van Winkle blows everybody with a Hurricane and it's all Gone With the Wind...I can't stop myself from watching it, because it's simply a highly imaginative and entertaining musical story and it's funnier than some Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons. I (disappointingly) think that it's the kind of story that we won't find in today's children's videos and for a long time, if it's not for ever. It's desolating, because it's some great stuff.

Another of the 'books are alive' shorts, perhaps it's having just watched Robert Clampetts' superb "Book Revue" short, but I found this one to be still a bit amusing, but somewhat bland. The rapid fire gags were there in spades, but the whole thing just seemed to be missing the manic energy of a typical Looney Tunes short, and therefor felt a bit lifeless and just a tad stale to me. It still remains watchable, but lacks the spark that makes it stand out in any way, shape, or form. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.My Grade: C