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6.1/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Bold King Cole remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like old-school, rubber-hose animation where everything feels like it might snap at any second, sure, watch it. If you need a coherent story or pacing that makes sense, keep scrolling. This is basically just a surreal trip through a palace.
Felix is just trying to get out of the rain. That’s it. Then he lands in this throne room, and King Cole is just absolutely full of himself. He’s bragging to anyone who will listen, which is mostly just a cat. The energy is honestly a bit exhausting, like hanging out with that one friend who won't stop talking about their new car.
The best part is definitely the portraits. You’ve got these ghosts of ancestors popping out of the wall like they’ve had enough of the King's nonsense. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Felix the Cat in Gym Gems, where the world just decides to stop playing by the rules of physics.
The animation is jittery, sure. Sometimes the characters seem to vibrate more than they move. But there’s a charm to it that you don't get with modern stuff. It feels hand-made in a way that’s slightly messy. I wonder if the animators knew just how weird these ghosts looked when they drew them.
The whole thing feels shorter than it actually is. It’s a total blur of gags, some landing hard and others just sort of... existing. It doesn’t try to be profound. It’s just a cat in a palace getting caught in a weird family argument. 🐱
A few stray thoughts:
It’s not as tightly constructed as Davy Jones' Locker, but it’s got a weird, frantic pulse. You watch it, you giggle at the weird drawings, and then you move on. That’s enough for me.