'The Inspector' "Sacre Bleu Cross" (1967)
Opening thoughts: The Inspector theatrical series is one of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' better theatrical series, and even better through young adult eyes. For me, the humour is funnier and the villains even more colourful. There are far better cartoons though than 'Sacre Bleu Cross'. It is a more than watchable and actually just above average cartoon with enough of the usual strengths, but there are far funnier and more imaginative The Inspector cartoons in the series. Put it around low middle perhaps when ranking the series' cartoons.
Good things: The best aspect is the animation, which is fairly simple in terms of drawing but never ugly. The somewhat abstract backgrounds have nice attention to detail, more so than the Pink Panther cartoons (not a knock at all on the animation of that series), and don't look sparse. But it is the deep and rich colours that stand out in this regard. Liked the jauntiness and jazzy slinkiness of the music, which didn't sound too cheap or repetitive.
Love as usual the chemistry between The Inspector and Deux Deux, two great and beautifully contrasted characters with the former being more bumbling and the latter being quieter. There are amusing and charming moments, the clear highlight being with the hand grenade, and Pat Harrington Jr as always does a great job with the voice work. The villain is bizarre, his name gives a pretty good idea of how much so, but entertaining, if not one of the most inventive villains of the series.
Bad things: The story for 'Sacre Bleu Cross' is very predictable and tired, and could have done with more energy as the cartoon does flag. Those and most of the writing bring the cartoon down significantly.
Would have liked sharper physical comedy and wittier verbal humour (the irony doesn't come out enough and the word play is not as inspired), which is what makes the best The Inspector cartoons work, did think that there were nowhere near enough laughs here. Or at least ones that are truly funny or memorable.
Closing thoughts: Overall, an above average (just about) The Inspector cartoon but a bit lacking.
6/10.