"Animal Crackers" is a sure fire way to spend an entertaining hour and a half dazzled by zany quips and brilliant one liners. The film is an absolute showcase for the Marx Brothers talents, particularly Groucho's frenetic, non stop verbal barrage. His character, Captain Spaulding is a famed African explorer, though that distinction is entirely unnecessary. Any backdrop would have served for the socialite party hosted by Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) for the unveiling of the famed Beaugarde painting at the center of the film's madness and controversy. The painting elicits a great response from it's new owner, Roscoe Chandler (Louis Sorin) upon it's first review - "Now even the prince is well hung".

Pay attention during the card game between Spaulding, Signor Ravelli (Chico), The Professor (Harpo) and Mrs. Rittenhouse. In a rare display, in fact the only time I've seen it, Chico actually responds verbally to a remark from Dumont's character who says "I'm not the dummy." Chico's Ravelli does a quick aside stating "Well, you could be."

The thought came to me as Groucho delivers his witticisms throughout the film - I wonder what it would be like if Groucho Marx, Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey were all put together in the same room. Think about that scenario!

Though only the second Marx Brothers film, "Animal Crackers" is a delight and a great forerunner to their other comedy gems. What more could one say, except that "This would be a better world for children if parents had to eat the spinach."

Once again, this Marx Brothers film is different from most comedies in that is features a mile-a-minute gags, either verbal or sight, constant silliness and some music thrown in the mix. All of it runs the gamut from very clever to stupid. However, if it gets stupid hang around another minute or so and you'll find something to laugh at.

One problem, especially with this film, is that some of the humor is dated and/or topical, meaning what was funny back then isn't necessarily now or the subject Groucho or Chico is talking about was big news back then but unknown now.

Nonetheless, I still enjoyed this and found a lot of funny material. I enjoy the Marx Brothers clever stuff and their slapstick. I particularly appreciated Groucho apparently ad-libbing one scene. In a few others he acted like he was ad- libbing, turning his head and talking to the camera. You don't see much of that stuff, and it's funny.

Two of the three songs were instrumentals, and they seemed to take away from the pace of the story. Groucho's song, "Hooray For Captain Spaulding," is a classic.

Some consider this to be the best Marx Brothers movie but I found several others I liked a lot more, such as "Horse Feathers" and "Duck Soup," just to name two.

While straightforward in its story structure, Animal Crackers is nothing less than a sheer delight. Some of the early sound recording may feel static, but with such hilarity and entertainment on show, you forget about any minor flaws Animal Crackers might have. The film does look good, the cinematography is nice and the sets are good. The film skips by, while the script is witty and sharp with some hilarious lines such "Did somebody call me schnorrer"(one of my favourite ever entrances in a Marx film) and the sight gags are clever and brilliantly timed, the part when Groucho shoots an elephant in his pyjamas is just hysterical. The direction and acting are top notch once again, Groucho is just great fun here, and Margaret Dumont matches him perfectly. Overall, a sheer delight, not the Marx Brothers very best(Duck Soup in my opinion with A Night at the Opera a close second) but it is my top 10 of Marx Brothers flicks. 9/10 Bethany Cox