Cock-a-Doodle Dog (1951) User Reviews

Yet another wonderful Tex Avery short.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 26 April 2020]

In this Tex Avery directed cartoon, Spike the dog is trying to get some sleep. However, the super-annoying rooster keeps crowing for practically no reason at all...other than it's an annoying creature! Again and again, Spike tries to get this accursed rooster to shut up...without success.

This cartoon is pretty much what you'd expect from an Avery film from MGM....lots of crazy laughs that you just won't find in other cartoons. His zany style is highly enjoyable and timeless. While this isn't among his very best, it is very good and is well worth seeing.

Wake Up!

[boblipton · 8/10 · 25 April 2020]

The bulldog is trying to sleep, but the skinny rooster won't shut up crowing,, in this funny, typically gag-packed cartoon from Tex Avery.

The elaborate background work and character design of Avery's earlier cartoons has vanished, destroyed by budgets shrinking in the face of post-war inflation and declining movie audiences, but there are just as many gags on display as ever, with a rat-a-tat pacing: set-up,pay-off, and then on to the next set-up. It's far less leisurely that Chuck Jones' Road Runner cartoons over at Warner Brothers, but the impulse is different. Jones' work always had an element of psychology to it, while Avery was about the gag.

quick and easy

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 25 April 2020]

Spike, the dog, is tired and desperate for some shut eye. The problem is that the rooster refuses to shut up. This Tex Avery cartoon has all of his WB quick sarcastic style. It has many recognizable gags. I have one small suggestion. The rooster shouldn't bite into an apple. He should be pecking at the apple. This is a simple short, quick and easy comedy.

The archetype Tex Avery cartoon.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 7 November 2002]

Tex Avery loved sight gags piled on top of one another, coming fast and furiously at the viewer. This short is simply one long string of sight gags in a battle of wits between a dog (usually named Spike, but not to be confused with the Spike found in Tom and Jerry cartoons with some frequency. Same name, different dog) and a rooster with a Type A personality. Great cartoon, but the unrelenting and unbroken chain of sight gags begins to wear on you. They almost come too fast. It's still great fun and a wonderful cartoon. Well worth watching. Recommended.

The dog and the rooster

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 8 November 2017]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. Is it 'Cock-a-Doodle Dog' an Avery masterpiece? Not quite. Does it show what Avery was all about, what makes his work so appealing to many and a good representation of him? Yes it is. The pace is a bit rushed at times in the timing of the gags, there are a lot and come at you in the most relentless of fashions. Occasional limitations show in the background art too when budgets weren't quite as big.

However, much of the animation is very good. Very rich in colour, the backgrounds have meticulously good detail when limitations don't kick in occasionally and the character designs are distinctively Avery in style and are fluid in movement. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the action.

Can't fault Avery, whose unmistakable and unlike-any-other style is all over, nor the dynamic voice acting and the very engaging characters, especially Spike. 'Cock-a-Doodle Dog' is incredibly funny throughout, hilarious even at its best which is very important in a cartoon with as many gags as this does. The story is not a new one but has enough variety and such to not make that matter so much.

Overall, very well done and distinctively Avery if not quite quintessential Avery. 8/10 Bethany Cox