Marvin Digs (1967) User Reviews

Groovy, Man

[boblipton · 6/10 · 3 April 2023]

Marvin's father supervises him in repainting the apartment and promptly falls asleep on the couch. Marvin talks his friends into repainting the entire neighborhood in paisleys.

It's one of the very late Paramount cartoons, from shortly before they shut down the division. Under the supervision of veteran Seamus Culhane and Ralph Bakshi, they cut designs to a minimum, went with quarter-animation, and tried to appeal to the kids, in this case with a bubblegum pop group called The Life Cycle -- sorry, never heard of them. Although the visuals are rather annoying for anyone who enjoys classic studio-era animation, you can see the effort to offer something novel here.

A G-rated hippie cartoon from Bakshi

[Rectangular_businessman · 6/10 · 14 June 2023]

An early gig of Ralph Bakshi as director, far more tamed than his work from the next decade.

It's honestly dated and with some generic jokes, but the story has some nostalgic charm with its psychedelic aesthetics, featuring a tale about the generational clash from the 60s, with the adults not being able to understand their kids anymore, as they embraced the hippie ideals about peace and love, and the boys letting his hair grow very long.

Definately nowhere as cynical as Fritz the Cat or Heavy Traffic, that's for sure.

The best part was the soundtrack, the rock song used here was quite pleasant to hear.

Marvin Digs hints at Ralph Bakshi's work post-Terrytoons

[tavm · 9/10 · 29 October 2007]

In honor of Ralph Bakshi's 69th birthday on this day in 2007, Jerry Beck linked from YouTube on Cartoon Brew this, Marvin Digs, the first one Bakshi made for the fading Parmount Cartoon Studio (formerly Famous Studios). Very much of its time, the title character is a teenager with hair all over him who exasperates his father because he lays around all day without working for a living and gives flowers to everyone he meets outside. So he gets him to do what his wife wanted her husband to do while she's gone: Paint the house. When the mayor on TV, however, asks his audience to decorate the city as they would their own home, Marvin enlists his friends to help decorate the entire apartment building in psychedelic colors to the horrors of his dad. After the mayor comes by and praises the effort though, dad has a newfound admiration for him as he tells stories of his youth to him as the cartoon ends...What a radical effort from Bakshi away from his former home studio Terrytoons in the waning days of theatrical short animation from the major studios as Marvin Digs hints at his more ambitious efforts in feature films like Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic. Wonderful vocal rock score by The Life Cycle and such imaginative backgrounds by Cosmo Anzilotti, James Simon, John Zago, and Bakshi himself. Well worth seeking out if you're a die-hard Ralph Bakshi fan.