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.
After being pleasantly surprised, having not been particularly impressed by Buddy's first three cartoons (particularly 'Buddy's Show Boat'), by the previous cartoon 'Buddy and the Gob', 'Buddy and Towser' is sadly closer to mild disappointment than it is to pleasant surprise. It's certainly watchable, but is more of a one-time watch than a cartoon one can watch over and over. Fritz Freleng returns here and his involvement does lift things, but he did it much better in 'Buddy and the Gob'.
While they are never hilarious or inventive, and there could have been more of them, some of the gags are well-timed and amusing such as with the snowball and the ending. While there is nothing exceptional with the story at all, it is livelier in pace than Buddy's first three cartoons and the conflict does make it more eventful than gags revolving around music and dance.
The most interesting character is the fox, a good threat, amusing and with a stronger personality than the titular characters. The animation is nicely drawn and detailed. Music played a big part in the Buddy cartoons and it was essential for it to work. Luckily it has the liveliness and energy, as well as the lush and vibrant orchestration.
'Buddy and Towser' is let down by the titular characters not having the same sparkle as the fox. Buddy continues to demonstrate that he is not a particularly interesting or compelling character, in fact pretty bland (a shame because 'Buddy and the Gob' actually showed Freleng giving Buddy more of a personality). Towser is nothing more than an annoying idiot.
Despite saying that the gags and story are better than in the first three cartoons, as indicated they're not the best executed either. 'Buddy and Towser' is fairly under-populated when it comes to laughs, this is hardly gag and laugh a minute quality, and while amusing and well timed they are never hilarious and predictability is high and invention low. The story, while with more conflict and livelier in energy, is very thin and predictable and the energy could have been more consistent.
In summary, watchable but average. 5/10 Bethany Cox
