In a series of short and brutally entertaining cartoons, thecute critters of the Happy Tree Friends, Volume 1: First Bloodseries, take a lickin', and keep on gigglin'.
Although they are tortured, each second, they rebound in episodeafter episode, giddier than ever before.
Viewers may be reminded of the mayhem seen on the Itchy andScratchy show on The Simpsons or the Spy vs. Spy strip featured inMad Magazine.
Only these animals are cuter than Itchy and Scratchy with theirheart-shaped noses and brighter than the characters in Spy vs. Spywith their candy-colored coats.
In episode 1, Spin Fun Knowing You, Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy andLumpy are at the playground.
Lumpy spins the three on the merry-go-round rapidly. Soon toothyis flung into the air and slammed against a tree. Blood splatterson the tree's trunk and oozes down the bark. Yech!
Next to go is Giggles. The poor bear is thrown into a log andtorn asunder. Seconds later a handrail flies through the air andimpales the critter.
Pitiful Cuddles is propelled into an airplane's engine andshredded through the other end.
"What about Lumpy?" you may ask. Nothing happens to him in thisone.
The episode wraps up in under a minute and 10 seconds and afterthe credits roll we're left with words of wisdom which reads:"Don't forget to floss."
Water You Wading For is my favorite cartoon out of the 14episodes.
Cuddles cannon balls into a lake and perfects his backstrokewhile encouraging Flakey to join in. Eying the "no swimming" signpositioned in front of the lake Flakey adamantly refuses to joinhis friend for a romp in the swamp, so to speak.
Seconds later piranha attack Cuddles and when they're finishedtwo seals juggle the rabbit back and forth while head butting it.An alligator chomps down on Cuddles, swallows him, and spits himout.
Helpless Cuddles is left with half of his ears and torso. Tofinish him , a whale springs out of the water and body slams thecreature.
Flakey casts a lifesaver to Cuddles, but it's too late. There'snothing left of him but a battered arm, an eyeball, an unidentifiedlimb and a pool of blood.
These are just a few of the scenarios offered where the vieweris on the edge of his seat waiting to see how these cute critterswill be brutalized, as horrible as that sounds.
It seems as if creators of this web toon(www.happytreefriends.com), Rhode Montijo and Kenn Navarro havestruck a cartoon gold mine.
