Bumpety Boo: The Rad Mobile; Katy And The Katerpillar Kids

The world of "Bumpety Boo" is a strange one indeed: Ken, a young boy, tools around the country, apparently parentless, in his talking yellow car with his dog sidekick Mopsy. In Bumpety's world, an episode of humor can be built around Bumpety's eating mushrooms which make him laugh; or a harried mother who needs a babysitter and leaves her baby with Ken and his car, neither of whom she's ever laid eyes upon before; or the car's tooth, which a villain (a series villain, one presumes, since he appears twice without introduction) attempts to pull with various means, setting off prolonged and truly anguished screams and crying from Bumpety. Comprising some 12 unrelated episodes, Bumpety Boo: The Rad Mobile boasts a few clever stories, but overall the irresponsibility and occasionally cruel tone of the humor--often characteristic of modern Japanese animation--makes this unsuitable. Katy and the Katerpillar Kids, based on the book by Sylvia Roche, tells the story of Kiki and Koko, the caterpillar children of butterfly mom Katy, who stumble upon a terrible plot: an alien creature is collecting forest animal children to carry them back to his native planet for food. Alerting Katy to the problem, the children take off repeatedly when their mother doesn't believe their story, and Katy enlists the aid of other forest creatures (such as Gilbert Mouse, private investigator extraordinaire) to help track down her children. A rule of thumb in children's animation seems to be: when in doubt, run and scream, and this rule is invoked whenever the story begins to flag, as it does quite often in Katy. The corollary to the "run and scream" rule is the "sing" rule, and Katy boasts a number of forgettable tunes, including one particularly obnoxious paean to the brilliance of children and the concomitant stupidity of adults. While children would be likely to enjoy Katy (and, for that matter, Bumpety), neither title is quality children's animation, either in terms of actual production values nor story. Neither is recommended. (Available from most distributors.)