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.
'Chris Columbus Jnr' is the weakest so far of the 1934 cartoons, where the general standard so far has been nicely decent but unexceptional. 'Chris Columbus Jnr' to me was just average.
Best thing about it is the animation, which is terrific. It is elaborate, beautifully and cleverly drawn and rich in detail in the backgrounds, some of it in the gags is quite imaginative too.
Love the music too, which is very characterful and beautifully orchestrated and performed. There are some amusing and well-timed gags and while nothing mind-blowing, predictable and mainly musical scenes there is a little more story to usual, being not as non-existent as most Oswald cartoons. Oswald is endearing if more restrained than usual, prefer his funnier and more chaotic side which is missing here.
On the other hand, there could have been more gags and less predictability and cutesiness, 'Chris Columbus Jnr' was inconsistent in the laughs factor and is somewhat saccharine on occasion. Other than Oswald, the supporting characters are not particularly memorable.
Historians beware as well, despite just being a cartoon 'Chris Columbus Jnr' does play fast and loose with the facts and does it in a way that's not really convincing, some of it silly.
All in all, average Oswald. 5/10 Bethany Cox
