Mister Magoo (1960–1961) User Reviews (4)

One of TV's Funniest Cartoons

[hfan77 · 7/10 · 22 May 2009]

Even though the cartoons were cranked out at a rushed pace and focused a lot on Mr. Magoo's nearsightedness, I thought the cartoons were so funny as well as non-violent. The key to the show's success was the outstanding voice work of Jim Backus as the title character. I read in another source that a lot of his lines were ad-libbed and that's what I felt contributed to the zaniness of the cartoons.

The one cartoon I remember was when Magoo was going bowling and instead he wandered into a bottle factory instead of a bowling alley. Let's not overlooked the supporting players such as youngsters Wheeler and Dealer, Mother Magoo (the only character to refer to him by his given name Quincy), his nephew Waldo and his Chinese cook Charlie.

My only dislike of the show was the cartoons that focused on Waldo instead of Magoo and used pretty much the same opening footage of Magoo talking on the phone with his nephew. Oh Magoo, you've done it again.

Awful

[welshNick · 1/10 · 28 November 2010]

It is actually quite difficult to come up with the right words to describe quite how awful this cartoon is. During my years I have watched and enjoyed all kinds of animation, some aimed at children, some aimed at adults and that mysterious in-between category occupied by such shows as the Simpsons.

However, back to Mr Magoo. There can be few shows ever made where the whole things relies on one single joke being cracked over and over again in every single episode.

Before writing this review I watched a load of these all over again on youtube to ensure my memory was correct and I was being absolutely fair. I can confirm the animation was terrible, the jokes were repetitive and far too many got made.

Its age is no excuse, there was plenty of good animation coming out at that time in the guise of Tom & Jerry as an example.

Watching this is sheer torture, the only thing I can immediately think of that was this bad was Betty Boop.

Very funny for little kids of the sixties and some gags still funny today

[by-luis-m · 8/10 · 3 June 2018]

Even if the premise (nearly blind little old man acting as if he had good vision) is difficult to accept by an adult, Mr. Magoo is a character that has similarities with many kids' grandparents or elderly neighbors that refuse to accept their obvious age-related limitations, making him situation-comedy funny, and more because of the charm given to him by a great voice artist, Jim Backus (the Mexican voiceover was great too.)

Some of the visuals may need explaining for today's kids of how the things in the 1960s and before worked, like for example very old wall telephones or UHF band television channels. The minimalistic but stylish visual design was good and very modern for its time, maybe too dated for today's taste, although not a problem.

Again, the most difficult obstacle for this show is today's adult mind. The very simplified animation and many of the stories with coincidental plot points, always about nearsightedness denial, make it difficult for grownups to remember how much they laughed at simple, repeated gags during early childhood years.

My bet is that kids can still enjoy this show if not having a zillion other options at the same time and if given the chance by skeptical adults.

Yes, it's awful

[yawn-2 · 1/10 · 6 July 2015]

Trust me, there is one reason and one reason only that these incredibly lame cartoons hung around TV in syndication for decades: THEY WERE CHEAP.

The ONLY good and memorable thing about this abysmal single-season hack job is the theme music and title sequence, which are really very good and which promise infinitely more fun that you will ever actually get watching these dull, amateurish cartoons. Compared with the truly classic and apparently immortal "Mr. McGoo's Christmas Carol," this is just sheer garbage to be avoided at all costs. Proof that even superior performing talent can never, ever overcome bad writing and and cheapjack production budgets.