Old vs. New Cartoons

*Originally published on 9/22/09



A lot of times when people watch old Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny cartoons, they will insert a comment about how animation has never, nor will it ever be that good.

I grew up watching Looney Tunes, so I have the same sort of nostalgic love for it as much as anyone, but at the same time I find it odd to hear people say that animation hasn't been that good in 50 years. There are a lot of stupid cartoons nowadays, but there have been some stellar productions made in the past few years, that I believe could compete with the timeless greatness of the classics.

Heck, I've already talked about a few of them. The DC Animated Universe is stellar. It was the pinnacle of quality animation, writing, action, and humor. It blended together to form an amazing continuity. It ran for 15 years, impressive by any stretch, and continues to be well regarded, long after it came to an end.

Gargoyles, again, was a gem by any standard. It did what few cartoons, what few shows do. While it's not quite as mainstream as Bugs Bunny, and has become more of a cult favorite, it really is good enough that it bears repeating.

Pinky and the Brain was another great. If any era is going to compete with the Golden age of animation, it's the 90's because cartoons in the 90's were awesome. This can hardly be disputed.

The 80's were mostly campy, but you had a few good ones like The Real Ghostbusters that came out in that time period.

I never understood the implication that just because something is older, it automatically makes it better and more deserving of respect. I'm not saying that the Merrie Melodies cartoons shouldn't be venerated, but we should keep some perspective about how good they were.

I mean, going by the "older is better" logic, Superfriends was better than Justice League. I own a bunch of the Superfriends box sets. It's silly and campy fun, but unless you're really, really nostalgic, no person would say that it was better than the Justice League animated series.

To say that nothing made since then could or would come close to that is pretty narrow minded. You're dismissing a lot of great material by going by that old standard.

Like so many other things, it boils down to personal preference, but who knows. You may come across something that you think is funnier or just better all around. On the other hand, you may not and you may still find that Bugs' classics still reign supreme.