User Reviews

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is running a children's revue at his theater. A bull pup is anxious for his time on stage and sabotages the earlier acts.

By this time, Oswald had suffered the fate that a lot of cartoon leads would in their shorts: he had become no more than an introductory actor, a top banana present only for the exhibition of the stooges. Certainly this sort of children's revue (with human children) was not new. Gus Edwards had been doing it for decades in vaudeville. Hal Roach's Our Gang series had done several of this sort of show, particularly since the introduction of Alfalfa Switzer. So what purpose does this movie serve, except to transform the small children into small cartoon animals?

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

Oswald in the Disney years saw mostly good to very good cartoons, and while the Winkler years had some duds there were also cartoons as good as the best of the Disney years. The 1929-1930 batches of Walter Lantz-directed Oswald cartoons were a mixed bag, with some good, some forgettable and not much special and a few mediocre. The 1931 batch was mostly underwhelming, with only 6 out of 18 cartoons being above average or more. The 1932 batch had a few not so good, though the cartoons in question were nothing compared to the worst of the previous 3 years, cartoons, but most were decent to good and some even very good. The 1933 batch is one of the most consistent, with the weakest 'Beau Best' still being decent. The 1934 batch were mostly nice and decent if unexceptional, with a few average ones and 'Sky Larks' and 'Toyland Premiere' being very good.

Having enjoyed most of the 1935 and 1936 cartoons (the ones that are available to watch anyhow), it is agreed that 'Kiddie Revue' really isn't good. Also questioned the point of it, with it being such a familiar concept done with much more imagination and humour, and deem it as one of the worst Oswald cartoons in a while, one of his worst later ones and one of his worst overall.

There are a few redeeming merits. Once again the animation is terrific, it is elaborate, beautifully and cleverly drawn and rich in detail in the backgrounds.

Also love the music, which is very characterful, bouncy and beautifully and lushly orchestrated and performed. In the little screen time he has, Oswald is likable.

However, he has very little to do here, so much so that judging it as an Oswald cartoon is difficult. He is more an introductory character and even saying that he is more a supporting character in his own cartoon is being too kind for, no matter his likability, how wasted Oswald is here.

Worse is that the other characters are not in any way engaging, instead being bland and obnoxious. There is nothing that is funny here, with no wit, less than sharp timing and no charm, which makes the non-existent story less easy to overlook and forgive. The whole cartoon is pointless and dull, and is also far too saccharine.

In conclusion, very weak and easily forgettable after a one-time watch. 3/10 Bethany Cox