Director: Bob Clampett
Release Date: April 27, 1940
Stars: Porky Pig
Rating: ★★½
Review:
Bob Clampett is one of the greatest ‘authors’ of the classic cartoon era, but not every cartoon he made was a winner. For example, ‘Porky’s Poor Fish’ is less than impressive.
‘Porky’s Poor Fish’ revisits a story idea that goes all the way back to the Silly Symphony ‘The Bird Store‘ (1932): a cat enters a pet store and when he catches one specimen, the other animals come to the rescue in a war-like reaction.
In Clampett’s film the bird store has changed in to a fish store, and the war scene involves a squadron of flying fish, a very silly hammerhead shark, and electric eels. There’s nothing special to the story, and the film’s charm and laughs lie exclusively in the abundance of puns, e.g. on holey mackerel and sole.
Watch ‘Porky’s Poor Fish’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Porky Pig cartoon no. 72
To the previous Porky Pig cartoon: Slap Happy Pappy
To the next Porky Pig cartoon: You Ought to Be in Pictures
‘Porky’s Poor Fish’ is available on the DVD sets ‘Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Four’ and ‘Porky Pig 101’.
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 
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August 1, 2018 at 19:41
mistermuse
For me, this carton has enough clever ideas and puns (such as 20,000 LEAKS UNDER THE CEILING and LITTLE SHRIMPS WITH BIG MUSSELS) to make up for the fact that the whole isn’t as good as the sum of its parts. I’d give it 3 stars.
August 1, 2018 at 16:19
Alan Keeling
“Porky’s Poor Fish” (1940) is not one of the better cartoon series from Warners animation studio.