Buddy the Gee Man

Buddy the Gee Man (1935)

** (out of 4)

Looney Tunes short has Buddy working for the government and he goes undercover at Sing Song prison to try and find the bad guys. Actually, I'm not sure what his mission was inside the prison as it's never too clear but that might be due to the fact that this turned out to be the final Buddy film so perhaps those involved just weren't trying to be too creative. Overall this is a pretty bland short that doesn't have too much going for it. None of the characters are given anything interesting to do and by the time the thing was over it felt as it it had gone on for at least twenty-minutes when it fact it only runs for seven. Overall I'd say the animation was quite nice and I also enjoyed the music score but this here just isn't enough to carry the entire film. With the lack of any good characters it's just really impossible to get caught up in the story and in the end you just can't help but feel it to be very boring.

Now a fairly obscure character, Buddy was the second Warner Brothers Looney Tunes character, after Bosko and followed by Beans the Cat. Buddy didn't last long, being retired in 1935 after 23 cartoons starting in 1933.

The Buddy cartoons are intriguing to see how very early Looney Tunes characters, before the iconic ones with far more interesting and funnier personalities were introduced, fared. His filmography is very much variable, most ranging between mediocre and decent though 'Buddy's Adventures' is one of the rare very good Buddy cartoons. His swan song cartoon 'Buddy the Gee Man' is one of his weakest and one can see why it was his last and why Buddy himself didn't click and last longer.

'Buddy the Gee Man' certainly has things that make it a one-time watch, if only for completest sake. The animation is nicely drawn and detailed with the black and white looking crisp, some of it is inventive. Even better is the very energetic and cleverly orchestrated music score. Music played a big part in the Buddy cartoons and it was essential for it to work.

It has the occasional mildly amusing moment and the voice acting is good.

However, 'Buddy the Gee Man' has the same issues that hinder his average or less, and mostly his cartoons in general, hence the reiteration. is very weak in terms of story, one would be forgiven for not remembering there being much of one and what there is is so formulaic and hastily put together one is a couple of steps ahead of the cartoon the whole time, which takes away from the enjoyment. Pacing is often very dull, which makes a very short cartoon feel longer.

Regarding the humour, 'Buddy the Gee Man' is very much lacking. There is nothing genuinely funny here, the best sporadic moments only being mildly amusing at best. The supporting characters don't register enough and it all gets too cutesy at times. Buddy is part of the problem too, like in all his lesser-just straining average cartoons he just isn't a particularly interesting or compelling in personality character, pretty bland actually, and his comic timing is barely there.

Overall, mediocre lesser Buddy swan song that is a one-time completest watch and nothing more. 4/10 Bethany Cox