Singing ‘Toons’ Praises

What could be more of a hoot for a kid than a night dedicated to cartoons?

That’s what local youngsters were treated to recently at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast when the Cartoon Network presented its Cartoon Cartoons on Tour. The event featured huge inflatable characters for the kids to play with and screenings of the network’s new prime-time animated shows.

Moms and dads brought their sons and daughters to the event, which lasted almost three hours. All those ‘toons may have left the parents yearning for something more adult, but it was hard to argue with the grins on their children’s faces.

“He had such a wonderful time, just so excited about it all,” Kim Reese said of her 4-year-old son, Simon.

“Like most kids, he watches a lot of TV, especially cartoons,” added the Newport Beach mom. “His eyes were so big the entire time, like when we took him to Disneyland.”

Simon gazed at the cartoons on a 35-foot screen while sitting in inflatable, cushy chairs. The children were served pizza (what else?) and given comic books, CDs and cartoon videos.

Though the blow-up characters--some 30 feet tall--amazed youngsters, the screenings were probably the biggest hit.

There were episodes from “Johnny Bravo” (the main character is described as “an Elvis-voiced, biceps-bulging sultan of self-regard, whose brawn is bigger than his brain”), “The Powderpuff Girls” (three super-powered sisters “who frequently ask to be excused from school so they can save the world”) and “Dexter” (“a boy genius who creates fantastic inventions in his bedroom laboratory”).