AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

TheLittleSongbird While not quite among Fritz Freleng's masterpiece, though the man did so many great cartoons, 'Holiday for Shoestrings' is still wonderful stuff.For what it lacks in plot, saying that the cartoon's light on it in fact is being generous, it more than makes up for in its entertainment value, terrific animation and some of the best use of classical music of any cartoon seen recently. The animation is simply terrific, with gorgeously vibrant colours, backgrounds that are rich in detail and the characters are smoothly drawn.'Holiday for Shoestrings' is very funny stuff as well, all visual and gag driven with no dialogue or voices. The Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy bits are particularly hilarious, while the cartoon deserves a lot of credit for giving enough variety to the running gag with the two elves to not make it feel stale or repetitive. The ending couldn't have been a more beautiful or clever twist on a story as old as 'The Elves and the Shoemaker'.The characters are endearing, but the best asset is easily the music, all pre-existing and brilliantly arranged by Carl Stalling. Tchaikovsky with 'The Nutcracker' dominates, but there are also healthy doses of Chopin, Strauss, Mendelssohn and Liszt. The music itself is magnificent and how it's utilised in 'Holiday for Shoestrings' makes it even more special, the synchronisation of gag and music is a seamless match throughout.Overall, light on plot but high on entertainment and quality. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . Warner Bros. Movie Studio's strongest warnings as to what could be in store for America, if Capitalism ever is allowed to run roughshod again over the backs of Average Citizens, as it had done in the early 1900s. (As the PBS offering MINE WARS recently documented, back then callous "businessmen" were murdering workers in multiples of one hundred ALL THE TIME in Non-Union Coal Mines for the "privilege" of earning starvation wages, and heavily armed People's Armies numbering in the thousands--led by America's World War One Heroes--shot it out with the Capitalists' Hench People during military campaigns spanning entire states.) In HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS, Warner's animators depict America's Worker Bees as elves, helping out a malingering shoe repair shop owner who feigns an "illness." Then these underpaid Capitalist Pawns notice that the "sick" businessman (or "job creator," in Fox "News"-speak) is trying to sneak away to play golf. Warner shows the worker elves immediately revolting, nailing down the Fat Cat miscreant in a helpless position of House Arrest, and going out to golf themselves. Under U.S. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, Rich People paid more of their fair share for the American Dream--about a 90% top tax rate. Warner shows in HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS the sort of chaos that results when the rate falls to all-times lows, like today, and the Wealth Disparity explodes to unconscionable record highs.

Robert Reynolds This is one of Friz Freleng's musically driven shorts from Warner Brothers studio. There will be spoilers ahead:There are only a couple of segments which have dialog and what little there is was recorded at higher speeds, though it hardly matters. The animation is set to various pieces of classical music and the timing of things is superb The basic plot is straight out of fairy tales, namely "The Shoemaker and the Elves". A shoemaker is laid up in bed and needs help in his shop. Cue the music and the elves. There follows a series of scenes, each set to some piece of classical music, with the animation timed to the music-and excellently timed at that.There are really nice bits like two elves doing a turn on Charlie Chaplin's "little Tramp", two others who do Laurel and Hardy and various other bits such as Russian elves to some Russian music. Different types of work is done to music. one of the highlights is when two less than bright elves try to hammer in a nail. The scenes are done perfectly, with a typical Warner's conclusion.The ending of the short is a twist on the original, with the shoemaker trying to sneak off to play golf, only to be caught by the elves. It's a beautiful ending.This short is available on DVD and is worth finding. Most recommended.

Lee Eisenberg Among the greatest Warner Bros. cartoons were the ones putting the action to music. One example is Friz Freleng's "Holiday for Shoestrings", taking the children's story of the shoe cobbler whose work gets secretly done by elves, and having the elves work to the "Nutcracker" music...with a few gags along the way. If you ask me, this is the way to get people into the holiday spirit; don't bombard people with that awful music and advertising that we have to experience every November and December. This cartoon (plus "Gremlins", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and "The Ref") create the perfect amount of yuletide feeling. Just recently became available on DVD on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 2.PS: one of the elves looked a little bit like Elmer Fudd.