User Reviews

The 26 Little Lulu cartoons made during 1944-1948 (and the two made in the early 60s) were uneven (individually and the series as a general overview) but watchable.

While there are, previous to 'Bored of Education', some good or more Little Lulu cartoons such as 'Hullaba-Lulu', 'Magica-Lulu' and 'Beau Ties', there are also mediocre or less ones such as 'Lulu Gets a Birdie', 'Lulu at the Zoo' and 'Lulu's Birthday Party' (two of those three having the character of Mandy as one of the main problems). 'Musica Lulu' is another one of the better Little Lulu cartoons, doing wonders with an old-hat and pretty clichéd for Famous Studios premise.

'Musica-Lulu's' first 2 minutes is basically set up and pretty sedate and predictable. It is also a shame about the racial stereotyping of the notes in the dream sequence, just when the series was improving with no longer having the grotesque character of Mandy, though it is nowhere near as bad here.

However, once 'Musica-Lulu' gets to MusicLand and The Musical Court of Justice, it picks up significantly. Just love the highly immersive rendering of the musical world, the inspired visual puns and the snappy dialogue (took me a while when younger to get the "he's a lyre" line but as of now it stands as a very amusing if endearingly corny musical pun). Then there is the escape sequence, which is deliciously hallucinatory with some of the most imaginative visuals of any Little Lulu cartoon.

As to be expected, the animation is nice. The style of it may take some getting used to but when you compare this cartoon to Little Lulu's debut 'Eggs Don't Bounce' the difference is staggering, here the drawing is more refined and the colours more vibrant. Winston Sharples' music score is whimsical, beautifully orchestrated and characterful as always. The main song is infectious.

Little Lulu is engaging without being too cutesy or bratty, and the musical instruments are cute and hugely entertaining characters, being a musician myself it was so much fun to spot the instrument and such and to be able to fully understand the humour. The voice acting is good.

In conclusion, very good Little Lulu cartoon and one of the better ones. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Lulu ditches violin practice for a pickup game of sandlot baseball. When she is knocked out by a baseball, she dreams she is on trial for abandoning her violin.

This cartoon-character-on-trial-in-a-dream was a specialty for Famous Studios. The one I remember best is SEA-PREME COURT, which was weird and a bit a gross. Director Bill Tytla does a good job here, casting the trial as a breach-of-promise suit, throwing in a couple of good visual puns and mimicking the disintegrating imagery of waking from a dream.

However, despite the high level of competence in all departments, this one seems a bit tired. Almost any juvenile character could have been used in Lulu's place, No one was happy with the Little Lulu cartoons, not the staff at Famous, not the sales department at Paramount, not Marge, the cartoonist whose character Lulu was. Little Audrey was already in development, an in-house series that would not require royalty payments and which would yield royalty income for the studio. Plus they could reuse the stories: same cartoons, different theme song.