Married Baby
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Zantara Xenophobe
"Hurts and Flowers" was the second Roland and Rattfink short to be released by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng, but I suspect it was probably the first one produced. I say this because of the absolutely unusual nature of the short, one which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the shorts that would follow. Clearly set in the time produced and not 1901, Roland is a flower child that loves all flowers and cares for all people. Rattfink is just a sourpuss that hates flowers and flower children to the extreme, and he spends the entire short trying to hurt Roland and his plants, but each time Roland forgives Rattfink and offers him a flower.It would not be unusual for Rattfink to harbor so much hatred for Roland just because they are polar opposites. However, the violence committed to Roland, which is normally amusing, comes off as just plain nasty this time. It is most likely because, unlike every other Roland and Rattfink short, this one has no dialogue from the main characters other than their screams. The biggest laughs often come from Roland's overly corny rhetoric and Rattfink's snide comebacks. But those are absent here. The background, too, is an ugly shade of puke green with little to decorate it beyond flowers and far unlike the rest of the series. It isn't a terrible cartoon, as it does have a few amusing, though not hysterical, moments. Zantara's score: 6 out of 10.
