User Reviews

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.

1940, like all the other years for Terrytoons, saw a hit and miss batch, more so than the other years even. Of which 'Just a Little Bull' is one of the middling ones ranking it in correlation with the rest of the Terrytoons and one of the middling 1940 cartoons. It is an unexceptional, nothing exactly special cartoon and has the same amount of problems as it has the amount of strengths. 'Just a Little Bull' is also watchable, completest sake is the main reason to see it but it's not the only reason.

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, as is the comparatively improved fluidity of drawing and movement, and some synchronisation is neat. The colour is vibrant.

Some very amusing moments, some imaginative and there is some zest and natural charm, and parts of it and the basic set up are nicely done. The cattle rustlers are formidable enough.

Occasionally though the visuals lack polish in drawing and some transitions. The conflict is bland and the titular character needed more personality.

Likewise, the story is paper thin and formulaic with not an awful lot to it (like the cartoon in general), doing little new with a not so original premise. Gags aren't enough, they are not always very organised (fairly scattershot), and there is not much especially memorable about some and some don't serve much point. The cartoon tends to veer towards being too cute and sugary and a lot of it is pretty predictable, the ending being rather too sentimental.

Overall, unexceptional but watchable enough. 5/10 Bethany Cox

When the rest of the herd is stolen by cattle rustlers, it's up to a bereft calf to do something about the situation in this typically overly sentimental Technicolor Terrytoon.

Because he did not have access to a sizable music library as did the other cartoon musical directors (Looney Tunes was set up specifically to piggyback on Warner Brothers' musical library), Philip Scheib either had to write his own things or base them on public domain works. Here, he uses "Get Along, Little Dogie"... as did the writers, who seem to have taken the title as the starting point of the story.

Although the technical issues of turning out a sound cartoon are all handled well by this point -- the back ground artists had solved the issues of Technicolor by adopting a more impressionistic watercolor background than their compeers at the other studios -- Paul Terry's studio offered simple sentimental stuff for well-behaved children -- nothing at all to my taste, nor was it ever. Still, they have done a fine job of making a believable calf and adding in some decent gags -- look for the one involving the reflection in the water.