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

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.

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.

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.