Bosko the Doughboy (1931)

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

Considering that approximately 11,000,000 people were killed during WWI, you would think it would be a topic that was taboo in cartoons. Yet, inexplicably, this is the second Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes cartoon set during the war that I've seen in the last couple weeks (the other being "Boom Boom" from 1936). Both are set in the trenches and both show the rollicking good time that can be had in the war!! Call me a killjoy, but I just can't understand this sort of subject in a cartoon.The film has a big strike against it at the start--it was made during the Harmon-Ising era at Looney Tunes. I say this because their productions emphasized cute and their creation, Bosko, was rather cutesy and bland. But, at least there is no singing in this one! Overall, it's animated well but also a bit unsavory. Plus, some might raise an eyebrow at the ending with its cheap attempt at humor (Bosko is burnt to a crisp and does an Al Jolson imitation). Overall, better than most Harmon-Ising cartoons but that still isn't saying a lot.

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.

Bosko the Doughboy is a bit more grim than usual and since the previous reviewer discussed the short in much detail, I'll mention some gags that haven't been discussed yet. Like the one where the bullets take some of the body of another soldier to make him much smaller instead of killing him. Or the one where after a friend of Bosko's gets a cannonball stuck in his stomach, Bosko gets it out by simply zipping down his front part and taking the ball out of there! Or the one where the dog soldier has fleas so Bosko solves the problem by getting his metal hat riddled with bullets so with the holes filled in the dog uses it to scratch his back! Like I said, pretty grim with "gallows" humor abound. Still, worth a look for any early Warner Bros. animation enthusiast.