ANI-MOVIES, *I Go Pogo

Pogo was one of the most groundbreaking comic strips of all time that inspired numerous comic franchises afterwards such as Bloom County, Bone, Calvin And Hobbes, Shoe, and Doonesbury. Former Disney animator Walt Kelly created the anthropomorphic politically-themed comic strip from 1948 all the way til his death in 1973, with some other cartoonists filling in the absence of the creator up until it's cancellation in 1975. With comics strips seeing a resurgence outside their own audience in the late-70s thanks to Peanuts specials and the Annie musical, Stowmar Enterprises formed a partnership with Possum Productions who owned the Pogo license to create a feature-length animated movie. Not only that, but it would be stop motion in a new filming technique called flexiform. The movie was to come out in 1980 prior to the conclusion of that year's presidential elections, but the film distributor jipped them on the deal and instead released in Fotomat's new video rental service, making it one of the first ever direct-to-video animated flicks. There are two different versions of this project, the original one didn't have narration. Ironically, Walt Disney Home Video bought the rights to distribute the movie on VHS nearly a decade later under a new title. Aside from a few screenings on early cable networks like Showtime, I Go Pogo didn't see much light unless your local Mom and Pop video shop had a wide selection.

The actual movie is a series of vignettes taking place in the Okefenokee Swamp with a possum named Pogo being the unwilling candidate for president because of the machinations of the scheming duo, Molester(Yes, that's his real name!)Mole and Deacon Mushrat who hope to rake in the power while controlling both candidates. They rope in Pogo's pals Albert, Howland, and Churchy, while leaving Pogo's true best friend Porky Pine always being ignored and cross about being left out of the mayhem everyone gets entangled with. Pogo is a titular character who gets regulated to the supporting cast in his movie as it is a swirling pot of political rhetoric thinly pasted together with an ongoing plot. This wasn't made to be appease children, unless they just like anything animated playing on TV.

I Go Pogo was animated by Marc Chinoy whose previous works included commercials and segments on Sesame Street which this film's stop motion shows off splendidly. It might not be on the same level of future animators like Will Vinton or Henry Selick, but it was exceptional for its time. There were prior attempts to animate the Pogo strip including a TV special by Chuck Jones that Walt Kelly didn't like, so he went on to make his own short to coincide with the first Earth Day. The main draw of the movie is the unique cast with the legendary Vincent Price, Johnathon Winters, and Ruth Buzzi providing some of the voices along with the cartoon regulars like Arnold Stang and Bob McFadden, plus oddly enough former Electric Company alumni Skip Hinnant as Pogo who is unfortunately overshadowed by the shenanigans of the other characters. Your chances of finding a physical copy of this on video are pretty slim, and it's not currently available on streaming, but I Go Pogo is a time capsule of comic strip humor and family friendly satire.