Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals

Originally, Bosko was the first cartoon character from Looney Tunes. However, when producers Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising went to MGM for more money, they also retained rights to this generally racially ambiguous character. Oddly, after two films with MGM, the pair decided to remake Bosko and turn him into a black kid....and one whose look would probably cause many politically correct folks to have coronaries! However, he is more realistic looking than he had looked.

In "Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals", Bosco is asked by 'Mammy' to take a bag of cookies to grandma. But on the way, his imagination runs wild...and has some adventures with a gigantic frog and his cannibal froggy buddies. By the way, like in an early Bosko effort from MGM, two of the frogs clearly are modeled after Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson and 'Fats' Waller.

So is it any good? Well, it's pretty entertaining and the cannibal frogs' singing is much less saccharine than most of the singing in the Bosko cartoons. Also, Buckwheat Thomas (from the Our Gang shorts) is kind of cute voicing Bosko...which he did only on two occasions. It's actually rather cute and enjoyable....but due to changing attitudes and a strong push for political correctness, I can't see them ever showing this on television!

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.

While there are a handful of above average and more Bosko cartoons, some are also unmemorable and only average and others less than that. The good news is that 'Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals' is one of his best cartoons, one of his funniest, most charming and most inventive, with some of the best animation and music of all his cartoons.

'Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals' only real faults is the story's relative paper thinness. Then again Bosko cartoons have never ought to be seen for their stories, as it is always one of their weaker assets even in the good ones.

Contrary to what some may think, while there are stereotypes there is nothing here that offends to the extent that one dismisses 'Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals' for racism. To me, there was nothing here that was racist, even if the cannibal characters' character designs and how they behave is done in a stereotypical manner that isn't necessarily subtle but it's also very entertaining.

Bosko, while not necessarily an interesting or well developed character, is fun and likable and he doesn't feel like too much of a supporting character. The supporting characters add a lot here.

As always for a Bosko cartoon the animation is good. Some of the most refined of all the Bosko cartoons, 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 and actually some of the best music in terms of how it's written and used in a Bosko cartoon, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.

Gags all hit the mark, no misses here, a lot of them being the funniest and most inventive of the later Bosko cartoons and even Bosko in general. Hard to go into specifics here due to all of them working.

All in all, after a period of forgettable or worse Bosko cartoons (none terrible though), with a few good ones in the mix, 'Little Ol' Bosko and the Cannibals' is a very pleasant surprise. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Little Bosko is giving cookies by his mother to take to grandma. Bosko has a big imagination. Instead of being hunted by a wolf, Lil Black Bosko is hunted by cookie-loving cannibals.

Lots of racial caricatures common at that time. Cartoons like this can't be made now and shouldn't have been made then but the great score and wonderful animation superbly redeems this cartoon.

If you like Fats Waller, you'll like these cookies.

As in a previous cartoon I reviewed, Little ol' Bosko in Bagdad, Bosko (who I'll remind you here is not the monkey-looking character from Warner Bros. but a more realistic-looking little black boy) is on his way to give a bag of cookies for Grandma when he gets stopped by a frog that sounds like Louis Armstrong. In this version, he and other frog caricatures of famous African-American musicians like Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson are portrayed as cannibals. At least this time we get spared Stepin Fetchit. Also like Little ol' Bosko in Bagdad, there's plenty of singing and dancing about Louis wanting cookies/Bosko refusing to give them. Having now seen two versions of basically the same number in two different cartoons, I wonder if someone at Disney watched these and used it as inspiration for the "I Wanna Be Like You" number with Louis Prima, Mogli, and Phil Harris in The Jungle Book. Anyway, very entertaining musical short with hardly any stereotypes (not the offensive kind, anyway). Highly recommended for MGM cartoon buffs curious about the output before Tom and Jerry and Tex Avery came along...