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.
1934, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch. Of which 'South Pole or Bust' is one of the low middle ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special and somewhat mediocre cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. Completest sake is the main reason to see it.
Best asset is the music, which predictably is incredible. 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 ambitious, elaborate detail in the backgrounds is still great to see and some synchronisation is neat.
A little charm here and there and the occasional mildly amusing touch. The walrus is a decent, if typical, antagonist.
Outside of the backgrounds however, the animation is primitive at best with a fair bit of crudeness, over-simplicity and choppiness. Especially in the drawing and designs of the characters.
Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic, a familiar story with very over-familiar execution. It's also pretty dull, due to a lot of padding and not enough content. The mouse character is not very memorable, while the dog has the opposite problem of being the hero/protagonist but also managing to be the most unsympathetic and hateable character in the cartoon. The conflict is stale and parts try too hard to be cute.
Gags are scarce, or at least nowhere near enough, and what there is is nothing to write home about, too much of it is very stale. The charm isn't enough either and some of it is structured in a choppy manner, not much here.
In conclusion, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox