Although not all the thirty four The Inspector cartoons worked for me, none of them really are less than alright. A vast majority of them too are above average and most even more than that, with the best of them being not too far off from the standard of a lot of the Pink Panther cartoons, to make the series of The Inspector cartoons one of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' overall better, and deservedly more famous, theatrical cartoons series.
Consider 'Le Ball and Chain Gang' one of the series' weaker cartoons and very average generally, with some good things and nothing is dreadfully done but there is also nothing exceptional. It is indicative to me that The Inspector series was getting tired and although the bickering married couple idea is different for The Inspector, it is pretty old hat in animation overall and has been much funnier, wittier and inventive elsewhere.
Lets start with 'Le Ball and Chain Gang's' good things. The animation is fine, one of the better assets of even the lesser cartoons in the series, simple but neatly detailed and richly coloured. Liked the jauntiness and jazzy slinkiness of the music, which didn't sound too cheap or repetitive.
Regardless of what my stance on the cartoon is, my thoughts on The Inspector are always the same and this is in a good way. His bumbling does amuse and doesn't annoy and Pat Harrington Jr brings that out very well. There are a few mildly amusing moments. Edna is the more colourful character of the couple, brought to life by June Foray who specialised with this type of character and was very good at it.
Was mixed overall on the couple. Liked Edna, Foray's, who gives it everything, voice acting and some of the bickering raises a chuckle. Personally though didn't find Charlie as interesting a character, the dialogue could have been sharper, that there could have been a little less of them as it did feel too much like the "bickering married couple show" than an Inspector cartoon and that Hal Smith did much better voice acting elsewhere being not as energised as Foray.
Gags are too few and what there are are not imaginative in the slightest and also not particularly funny on the most part, parts felt repetitive too. The story lacks energy and comes over as very routine, which further adds to the tired feel, and makes no attempt to do anything original with a pretty old-hat premise. Neither the physical or verbal comedy shines quite enough and the timing felt tired.
Summing up, alright but very average. 5/10
