User Reviews

A random collection of gags and looping is still quite watchable, thanks to some good bits in this early Terrytoon.

While the progression of settings -- from railroad, to desert water hole, to vultures and sheep -- give this cartoon a sense of Paul Terry's staff being unable to work many settings for more than one or two jokes, there are some nice choices made. Among them are the scary way the vultures are drawn -- like skeletons, particularly the blank-eyed heads. In addition, the better gags are clustered near the end. Although the weak starting gags and the abrupt transitions make for a less than interesting start, the ending makes up for that.

There's something special when you watch a Terrytoons animated short. I've gone through the 1930's shorts by this production company run by Paul Terry and Frank Moser and started the 1931 shorts. Go West, Big Boy is a delightful offering from Terry and Moser. There's action aplenty from start to finish. The greatness of these shorts is the wackiness of the characters; reminiscent of soon to be Looney Tunes but with their own flare. The early shorts of Terrytoons were superior to all the other production houses like Disney, Warner, Universal and Columbia not from an animation perspective but from sheer entertainment. The animation adds to that entertainment quality. For example the eyes of the characters are always wide open that makes them funny to look at.

Go West, Big Boy released on 22 Feb 1931 is a wonderful short with the anthropomorphic mouse travelling west and being kicked off the train only to be encircled by ravenous buzzards. Enter stage left is a fair lady mouse skipping onto the scene followed by hundreds of her sheep.

Absolutely fun short. Recommended.

The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.

'Go West, Big Boy' is another 1931 Terrytoon that is decent but unexceptional. It's an uneven cartoon, but has more than enough to it to make it worth a one time watch at least, mainly for anybody striving to see every Terrytoons available like me. Again though that is not the sole reason, there is much more to 'Go West, Big Boy' than that.

It doesn't start particularly well. The gags are not enough and are not that funny or imaginative with sluggish timing. Everything about the start is very bland and uninteresting.

Pretty poor animation doesn't help it, aside from some nice backgrounds the character designs are primitive and crude and the repetition and looping just looks cheap as do the very rushed and unfinished-feeling transitions. The story as ever with Terrytoons is basic and obvious and the cartoon takes on more than they can chew with a few too many ideas and settings.

It is unfortunate that this is the case, because the second half of 'Go West, Big Boy' really picks up in every regard and gets rid of the false impression set by the start. The character designs are more interesting, especially agreed the vultures.

The gags are funnier, not hilarious but amusing, better-timed and more inventive. The pace is livelier, there is more charm that is natural and unforced, more risk-taking and characters that hit the right notes without blowing the mind.

Best component is the music, not surprising as it was true for all of Terrytoons' output, which is outstanding. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The backgrounds are detailed enough and show a studio that were aiming for ambition and succeeding in some aspects.

To conclude, uneven with a not very good start but ends more than satisfyingly. If you are thinking of bailing early on, stick with it because as you can guess from what has been said in my review it gets better. 6/10 Bethany Cox