User Reviews

This Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon takes the audience to a cartoon town inhabited entirely by birds -- and Oswald, of course. It could hardly be an Oswald cartoon without his presence. He, however, is in this cartoon only as the leader-drummer of a band at a club, performing the title song. He is visible for perhaps ten seconds. The remainder of the show is eked out with shots of various flocks of birds, who continue to sing the title tune.

This is, after all, ten years after Oswald was created and introduced by Walt Disney. The result is that he certainly had a lot of name recognition by this time, and so his presence in the movie meant that Walter Lantz (who had wound up in control of the character after a series of bad-faith deals and reputedly Lantz being very lucky in a poker game) could stick his name on the cartoon, put him in it for ten seconds, and get some extra rentals by virtue of the branding.

It's certainly a watchable cartoon, but it adds nothing to the brand. Lantz was already experimenting with other characters to star in his cartoons. It would be a couple of years before he would have success with Andy Panda, and 1940 before his cartoon studio came up with a major star in Woody Woodpecker.

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

Oswald in the Disney years saw mostly good to very good cartoons, and while the Winkler years had some duds there were also cartoons as good as the best of the Disney years. The 1929-1930 batches of Walter Lantz-directed Oswald cartoons were a mixed bag, with some good, some forgettable and not much special and a few mediocre. The 1931 batch was mostly underwhelming, with only 6 out of 18 cartoons being above average or more. The 1932 batch had a few not so good, though the cartoons in question were nothing compared to the worst of the previous 3 years, cartoons, but most were decent to good and some even very good. The 1933 batch is one of the most consistent, with the weakest 'Beau Best' still being decent. The 1934 batch were mostly nice and decent if unexceptional, with a few average ones and 'Sky Larks' and 'Toyland Premiere' being very good.

'Everybody Sing', despite the low rating here presently, is not bad a cartoon. To me, actually, it was very entertaining. It is non-existent in terms of the story and is pretty predictable structurally. Oswald again is too much of a supporting character and has very little to do.

The rest of the characters have more personality and are more memorable, especially the crows. The ending, while fun, jars a little tone-wise.

However, once again the animation is great, even if the new makeover for Oswald established some cartoons ago still takes some getting used to and he does look and seem a different character. It is elaborate and meticulous in detail, transitions flow well and the drawings are smooth enough.

Gags are very amusing and very well timed, while the rest of the characters have such vibrant personalities and energy that makes them memorable. Best of all is the phenomenal music which will spark the interest of anybody not as familiar with the style. Wonderfully arranged and sung and with a lot of bounce and character as well as beautiful, clever orchestration and yummy harmonies.

In conclusion, pretty decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox