Wheels on the Bus
Normandcompany.com
Creators: Paul Kinsella
Length: 2 minutes
Watch The Cartoon
Wheels on the Bus takes the old children's song and turns it into a nursery car chase. The set up is a classic. You believe you are watching something innocent, until step after step, Kinsella takes you beyond, while keeping the same innocent tone. Kids in the bus are singing a song about their bus and its driver. Bus the bus seems intent on not going to school. Can the police make a difference?
Although showing consequences of drinking and driving, one thing missing from the cartoon is the bus driver's motivation. Why is he drinking in the first place? Where are the kids going? Why are they kids with him? Did the driver hijack the bus? Expanding on these questions would have added another dimension to cartoon, instead of taking everything at face value.
Several Flash cartoons use event sounds when they have music or dialogues tied with animation. Event sounds continue to play when one hits the pause button in Flash. Unfortunately, Kinsella does that too. The animation is minimal, made to resemble a child's drawing. Better framing of the action would have helped. The bus shouldn't be so close to the right end side of the screen.
Hervé