Famous Studios' output is hit and miss, with some good, even great, cartoons in their early- middling years, and then got cheaper-looking and a little repetitive around the mid-50s. Old MacDonald Had a Farm, as far as Famous Studios goes, is neither one of their best or weakest, instead ranking near the very solid middle, while ranking as one of their better sing-a-long shorts.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm is virtually plot-less and felt more of an excuse to string along a series of familiar tunes and gags. Seeing as it is not the first cartoon to have this and not the worst-affected, I can forgive. More could have been done with the actual sing-a-long section which takes up half the cartoon, the visuals are good and the song arrangement even better, but it does lack the vibrant energy and inventive cleverness of the first half and felt somewhat over-stretched. Most of the gags are terrific, but one didn't really work for me and it was lambs' blackface gag, that it's racially stereotypical(animation, vocals and lyrics) is part of the problem but the bigger problem was how truly misplaced it felt within the rest of the cartoon.
The animation is very good however, everything is bright and colourful, the backgrounds are lively and detailed and it's all smoothly drawn, the characters drawn with little ugliness either(the lambs and chicks were very cute-looking in fact). The first half of Old MacDonald Had a Farm was filled with some brilliantly entertaining and clever moments and sight gags, like with the choice of instruments and how they were used(i.e. the pig and the stovepipe for a tuba). The funniest was the duck with the balloon and the chicks do an adorable jitterbug routine. The farmyard animals are great fun and have colourful personalities and the farmer is a nice character too. The high point of Old MacDonald Had a Farm was the music, with the use of familiar tunes arranged by the great Winston Sharples. And these tunes are arranged brilliantly here, with vibrant orchestration and lively rhythms, the most fitting was the use of Three Blind Mice and the most entertaining being the horse playing the jazz trumpet. The last minute and a half or so consists of the characters doing a charmingly upbeat Conga.
In summary, a good fun cartoon. 7/10 Bethany Cox
