Movie Review # 412: Dangerous When Wet (1953)

Ladies & gentlemen, today, we review the next live-action, and/or animation hybrid that was made my MGM, and was a musical. Like Anchors Aweigh, this film also had an animation segment that featured the famous mouse, and cat duo, Tom and Jerry. It is the one, and only, Dangerous When Wet, which was evidently released in 1953.

Plot: Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) is the daughter of two dairy farmers, and with a couple siblings in her family. Although she may not be into swimming as much as the rest of her family, she decides to get into it more when a salesman by the name of Windy Weebe (Jack Carson) invite her, and the rest of her family to go, and swim the English Channel. Will Katie get into swimming more as a result, and can she accomplish a possibly difficult task such as this one?

Okay, first of all, forgive me if it sounds unfair for me to make some comparisons between Dangerous When Wet, and Anchors Aweigh, or films like these ones. It’s just that these two films had animation duo Tom and Jerry in them, and there were areas where one film seemed to do better than the other. So let’s get started! To begin, the family dynamic with the Higgins family is really good. I mean there seems to be some really good chemistry with each of those family members, including the Mom, and Dad of that family. You really care for them, and they’re a family that any of us might even enjoy being a part of. The rest of the cast is also very colorful, from Windy Weebe to love interest Andre Lanet, and other characters in this movie as well. The music is also very fun, and upbeat as well. Sure, you may find yourself singing, or even humming the song, “In My Wildest Dreams” the kost of all the songs. Still, if you listen to these songs several times more, you might enjoy singing along to them too. Quite honestly, songs like these, or even songs that were written for other musicals that were released during the 1950s, 1960s, or shortly after seem to help show how much more lively, and possibly even more fun life seemed to be back then compared to today. Okay, that’s not to say that life isn’t still fun today too, or even that movie musicals aren’t good today as well. Still, at least there weren’t quite nearly as many crazy things happening in the world like there seem to be now, you know? There’s also the scenery of the water. Wow, I’m not sure how to put words to it. For now, what I will say is that it’s almost like when you see the scenes that take place underwater, it’s almost like the live-action sequences like those seem to look more animated at times. And yes, we’re talking about scenes that take place outside out the Tom & Jerry moments. Speaking of the moment, where Tom & Jerry make a cameo appearance, that was a vast improvement in comparison to the one from Anchors Aweigh. I may have mentioned in my review for Anchors Aweigh that the animation sequence in that film seemed to be cut short by a few minutes, yes? Well, this time around, that doesn’t seem to be the case quite that much, if at all. In fact, the audience seems to have more time to enjoy it more this time around. So that’s a strength in that regard. One final thing to mention as far as benefits for this film go is that this film seems to have good messages about learning to have a good balance between your work life, and making time for personal relationships as well.

However, the one downside to Dangerous When Wet is that there are points where the writing can feel a little clunky at times. I’m not sure how to put words to it, except that it seemed like there were some points where the writing could have maybe improved, whether that be in the direction that this film went at points, maybe developing certain relationships more, and things like that. Honestly, these were some areas where folks like Anchors Aweigh seemed to improve upon.

And that’s my review for Dangerous When Wet. Although the film may have fallen shirt at some points, it is an overall really fun film. Are people most likely to rewatch it? Yeah, probably! Maybe not quite as much as say Anchors Aweigh, My Fair Lady, or films like those, but people may want to revisit this movie from time to time. Because of how fun this film is, this is one you definitely need to see if you haven’t yet! You’ll definitely have fun with it, I’m sure.

Final Grade: A-