Book Review: The Animated Universal Classic Monsters

This is another in a series from BearManor Media where author Matthew Hahn explores cartoons that feature a popular movie subject.  This time it is the Universal classic monsters.

The book is broken off into segments.  After a Prologue, the chapters include Theatrical, Television, Direct-to-Video, Music Video, Commercials, Games, and Miscellaneous. The book concludes with trivia.

Within each of these chapters, author Hahn lists all of the cartoons with each entry annotated, providing fascinating details.  It is especially good that the films are listed chronologically rather than alphabetically, allowing for their historical context to be factored in.  The information provided is vastly detailed. 

As with Hahn’s other books in this series, the completeness and thoroughness is both remarkable and commendable. Noted animation studios Disney, Terrytoons, Walter Lantz, Leon Schlessinger, Hanna-Barbera, et al, are all fully represented.

Along with the enlightening details provided, the book’s contents point out how these classic characters made such of a lasting impact on the culture.  Their presence in animation continues into the 21st century and crosses over all media.

This book fills a need, and its popularity will extend to monster movie fans, animation fans, media historians, and casual readers.  It is highly recommended for libraries and research centers.

It is available at this link:  MONSTERS