While not the biggest fan of the Herman and Katnip cartoons- some are great, some are good and decent but unexceptional and others are watchable but not much beyond that- none of them are awful. It is a shame though that the Herman and Katnip series went from one of their best with Mousetro Herman to one of their weakest with this cartoon, which falls into the just about watchable category.
The lower budget does show sometimes with some limited backgrounds, but it's bright and colourful on the most part, the characters are drawn well and there is evidence of detail, so while not great it is not of bad quality at all either. Katnip is a great antagonist and his personality is as consistent as with the rest of the cartoons, the conflict is believable seeing that this is yet another example of Herman and his cousins having a reason to outwit Katnip rather than doing it without reason. The cousins do serve a point and are not annoying or too cloying. The voice acting, with what little dialogue there is here (Arnold Stang has never had this much less dialogue), is solid, but it is the music that makes Hide and Peak. It is not the most memorable or inspired of Sharples' work, but it is beautifully orchestrated and characterful, and adds a lot to the cartoon.
However, Herman has very little to do (Stang is also rather wasted here) and is somewhat annoying as well. The story is very repetitive and over-familiar, apart from the mountain setting(which is not utilised anywhere near as much as it should have been) this is pretty much the same story/formula of their earlier cartoons all over again with not much variation or imagination. There's not an awful lot of dialogue here, and when there is it is so predictable and more of the same that it can be practically recited. Hide and Peak is also not very funny or imaginative, with some of the timing rather slow. The ending is also one of the most uncomfortably brutal and mean-spirited of all their cartoons.
Overall, rather mixed on this one. Watchable, but aside from the music it's all very ordinary and not much that is truly great. 5/10 Bethany Cox
The lower budget does show sometimes with some limited backgrounds, but it's bright and colourful on the most part, the characters are drawn well and there is evidence of detail, so while not great it is not of bad quality at all either. Katnip is a great antagonist and his personality is as consistent as with the rest of the cartoons, the conflict is believable seeing that this is yet another example of Herman and his cousins having a reason to outwit Katnip rather than doing it without reason. The cousins do serve a point and are not annoying or too cloying. The voice acting, with what little dialogue there is here (Arnold Stang has never had this much less dialogue), is solid, but it is the music that makes Hide and Peak. It is not the most memorable or inspired of Sharples' work, but it is beautifully orchestrated and characterful, and adds a lot to the cartoon.
However, Herman has very little to do (Stang is also rather wasted here) and is somewhat annoying as well. The story is very repetitive and over-familiar, apart from the mountain setting(which is not utilised anywhere near as much as it should have been) this is pretty much the same story/formula of their earlier cartoons all over again with not much variation or imagination. There's not an awful lot of dialogue here, and when there is it is so predictable and more of the same that it can be practically recited. Hide and Peak is also not very funny or imaginative, with some of the timing rather slow. The ending is also one of the most uncomfortably brutal and mean-spirited of all their cartoons.
Overall, rather mixed on this one. Watchable, but aside from the music it's all very ordinary and not much that is truly great. 5/10 Bethany Cox
