Mother Goose Land

Like the later Alice in Wonderland spoof, "Betty in Blunderland" (1934), "Mother Goose Land" (1933) puts Betty in a famous picture-book setting with all sorts of familiar characters and then has her abducted by a threatening figure from that setting, while the classic characters are forced to pursue and rescue her. Here, Betty reads Mother Goose stories at night and sings a song about wanting "to go with Mother Goose on a journey/just to visit with the dame who lived in a shoe," and is soon transported there and gets to meet all the famous nursery rhyme characters as well as some from other children's tales, including a jazz-playing Pied Piper who gets outsmarted by a rat with a harmonica. Betty attracts the attention of the man-sized spider who torments Miss Muffet and it abducts her and runs off, only to be pursued by the vengeful "four-and-twenty blackbirds" baked in a pie.

The nonstop musical soundtrack offers a mix of original songs; popular songs of the era, including "Sweepin' the Clouds Away" and "Bye Bye Blackbird;" and new recordings of nursery songs like "Old King Cole" and "Sing a Song of Sixpence." It's a nicely animated piece for the children, with vivid depictions of the famed Mother Goose characters, but it doesn't offer the inspired gags that have made other Betty Boop cartoons so attractive to an adult audience.

Not one of the best Betty Boop cartoons, still a good fun cartoon in many ways.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation. The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The charm, sensuality and adorability factors are here and she's fun to watch.

The rest of the characters are similarly enormously entertaining, with fun appearances from most classic nursery rhyme characters (along with a couple of dull ones that are just there with not much to do), Humpty Dumpty is a particularly memorable part and the spider while a bit too frightening perhaps for youngsters certainly is not a character one forgets in the long run.

Story-wise, there is nothing ground-breaking (cartoons taking on nursery rhymes has been done a lot, and a lot of the other times more inventively) nursery rhymes and structurally it's thin stuff with a couple of moments that do come over as a touch saccharine and creepy. It is fun and engaging however still and is paced efficiently, kept afloat by some funny moments and most of the characters. The voice acting is good.

Furthermore, the black and white animation is extremely good, smooth, meticulously detailed and well drawn with the black and white not looking too primitive. A lot of it is actually very imaginative as well, and it is the cartoon's best component by a large margin. Just as good is the music, which is rousing, catchy and unquestionably accessible to anybody who loves or is familiar with the composition style, with some clever takes on familiar nursery rhymes.

All in all, good Betty Boop cartoon but not one of her best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Mother Goose Land (1933)

*** (out of 4)

The animation itself is the highlight of this Betty Boop short, which starts off with her in bed reading Mother Goose stories and soon she finds herself carried off by Mother Goose into a fantasy land with her favorite characters. Story wise there's certainly nothing ground- breaking here but if you're a fan of the series then there should be enough here to keep you entertained. The main song being sung is a pretty catchy one and perfectly captures the mood of a Mother Goose story. We're given several characters like Humpty Dumpty but the highlight is without question the animation. The animation is full of great detail and we're treated to some wonderful images including one dealing with a house catching fire and burning down.