TheLittleSongbird
The Bosko cartoons may not be animation masterpieces, but they are fascinating as examples of Looney Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons. There are some good cartoons, as well as some average or less ones.'Bosko the Doughboy', one of the better Bosko cartoons by quite some way, is a welcome return to the war-oriented theme explored in 'Dumb Patrol', another one of the better Bosko cartoons. Again the story is slight and slightly flimsy and a couple of parts are not for the easily offended.On the other hand, the animation is good. Not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail, it is especially good in the meticulous backgrounds and some remarkably flexible yet natural movements for Bosko. The music doesn't disappoint either, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.The gags are quite inventive and fun with a brave and successful attempt at being darker and grimmer than usual for a Bosko cartoon, Bosko while not a great character is more compelling than usual and the pacing is lively enough.In summary, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
verbusen
I'm writing a review on Bosko The Doughboy, a 7 minute long cartoon only because I think it's really really funny, and very anti-PC. It's definitely the funniest Bosko cartoon I've seen, and although I doubt I'm in the same critical league as my fellow reviewers here, I've seen enough Bosko to know what the usual humor level in one is. So what were my favorite parts? The violence for sure, that slaps you in the face, like a very early Popeye fight, only in this the cartoon characters croak! The part with the flea caught me totally unprepared and actually made me laugh out loud very loudly! The animation is really good, much better then I was expecting. It's on par with stuff Warner was doing in the 40's maybe even better there are a lot of details going on and movement. Highly recommend it for adult viewer's, for kids too if they are at least pre-teen. As far as one reviewers question about what war it was, Doughboy is a nickname for American soldiers in World War One so there you go. It is not going to demonize an enemy since it was made in 1931 and Germany was at peace with the world. The same things would happen after World War Two where cartoon characters may be in the war but the enemy is unseen. You don't want to ruin a countries market not only for that cartoon, but also all the movies you are making with bad press. You also see that happening in TV series where although you see the enemy, most times they are not demonized (unless SS or Gestapo) and their abilities are made more respectful so as not to offend that countries market from selling your TV shows and movies in it. For Bosko The Doughboy I rank it a 10 of 10 on the scale of all the Bosko episodes and a 9 of 10 for cartoons, I really liked it.
Lee Eisenberg
Bosko, in case you've never heard of him, was the original Warner Bros. cartoon star (before Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, etc). A feisty, black and white character of no discernible species - although he looks like a minstrel character - the Looney Tunes series would have him go through a litany of adventures representing common daily aspects of life.One entry was 1931's "Bosko the Doughboy". Hugh Harman's short casts Bosko as a soldier, presumably in World War I. Which brings up a discussion topic. You see, in Warner's WWII-themed cartoons, it was always very clear that it was WWII, and that Bugs or Daffy or whoever were fighting Nazis. Here, not only is the war never specifically identified, the enemy is never specifically identified. So how do we know who the enemy really is? One thing that we learned in "Catch-22" is that "...anyone with a gun is the enemy." Of course, I'm sure that the people behind the cartoon never intended for the cartoon to merit such a complex interpretation. I have no doubt that they envisioned it as pure entertainment. Not that it contains much in the way of entertainment. I believe that I speak for most Looney Tunes fans when I say that the Looney Tunes' golden age began with Porky Pig's debut in Friz Freleng's "I Haven't Got a Hat" in 1935.
Afternothing99
On the Image Entertainment release of 'Uncensored Bosko, Volume One' Stephen Worth of "Storyboard Magazine" proclaims on the back cover that "One of the best cartoons ever produced is 'Bosko The Doughboy' (1931).'" Don't you think that's stretching it a tad? I can see his enthusiasm, the cartoon is well designed and well executed, but a story is non existent, and it lingers for about a minute before it Iris's out. If you want good cartoons see something like 'Wyken Blynken And Nod' or 'Somewhere In Dreamland' or 'Old McDonald Had A Farm'. I suppose if you are a die-hard animation fan and historian like myself, watch this one. The short is presented on 'Uncensored Bosko volume one', in fair condition, with a few scratches, and the film runs seven minutes.