Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Ant and the Aardvark" is a 6-minute cartoon from over 45 years ago directed by the legendary Friz Freleng, an Academy award winner at this point, and written by the very prolific John W. Dunn. Unfortunately, cartoons had their best years behind them already and this one here is no exception for how mediocre these films were in the 1960s. It runs 6 minutes and features 2 new characters, the ones in the title. The story, however, is nothing we have not seen in Warner Bros cartoons of the previous decades already, so I am not sure if I am too happy about the Ant and the Aardvark getting many more cartoons in the years after that. i guess I will decide when I watch these. Actor John Byner voiced the 2 characters and he is an exception to voice actors as he has been mostly in "real" live action movies to this point. All in all, not a great watch sadly. Little fun snippet at the end of this review: In Germany the aardvark (sounds like a Nordic or Estonian mythical figure) was voiced by a female actress and called Elise.
au_law2001
Back when in the States, I was like about 7 or 8, I always woke early, just to watch this, together with a whole bunch of other cartoons like HootKloot, The Road Runner Show, The Pink Panther. But this was perhaps one of the most memorable and funny animated works out there, and I still find it very funny today, I'll never forget the episodes, like the one where two aardvarks were fighting over the can of chocolate ant pudding? or the one where the aardvark is trying to reach the island where all the ants are at, and my personal favorite, the one where the ant, the aardvark and a dog end up in an animal hospital, which would later be the basis of a similar Looney Toon cartoon with Sylvester, Tweety and the bulldog. This is one of the most unforgettable cartoons out there in which anyone would love to revisit, I would. An excellent series.
MovieMusings
Whether Saturday morning cartoons or the 4:30 pm showing after school back in the 70s, the Pink Panther Show was great, and The Ant and the Aardvark were a great part of it.The ant was cool, always just a step ahead of the aardvark. They both would talk to the camera with humour and witticisms. The voice of the aardvark, with his attitude, was among the best in cartoon history.Somehow, these great cartoons have got to be archived, if only they could be retailed in a collector's series or something, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be ready to buy in an instant.They sure don't make cartoons like they used to.
marvelous-marv
I loved this cartoon very much as well as its big brother, The Pink Panther. Why they don't make cartoons like this anymore, I'll never understand.Jackie Mason NEVER, EVER did any voices on this cartoon. The Jackie Mason-type voice was the incredible impressionist/comedian/actor John Byner doing a dead-on impression of Jackie Mason. Byner did both the Ant & the Aardvark, which isn't unusual as most cartoons have voice actors doing multiple voices. Look at The Simpsons --- Hank Azaria & Harry Shearer probably did about 30 voices between them on a regular basis.