From the very late 1930s through the 1950s, the short cartoons made by Looney Tunes were arguably the best and most enjoyable you could find...with the possible exception of Tex Avery's shorts he made while at MGM. Why were they so good? Well, the characters were amazingly good as was the writing. The cartoons were edgy and funny.
This being said, you never would have guessed that Looney Tunes would be THE studio to beat for shorts if you saw the studio's early efforts. Their first character, Bosko, is easy to hate. In his first two shorts, he is clearly a black character with a VERY stereotypical voice...one that probably would offend most viewers today. The studio wisely de-emphasized this in later films, changing his voice from an "Amos 'n Andy" type voice to an ultra-cutesy one of indeterminate race. But the newer and improved Bosko still sucked...because now instead of being offensive, he was incredibly bland and saccharinely sweet. Singing, dancing, hanging out with cute woodland creatures and the like was the norm for these shorts....and they do NOT age well.
Here in "Bosko's Store", Bosko is once again singing and dancing for no apparent reason, other than perhaps a form of insanity. Later, when his girlfriend Honey arrives they go...guess what.... DANCE AND SING....again for no clear reason. The only positive is that Honey brings along her godawful cat...who actually is fun because he's so obnoxious and such a counterpoint to Honey and Bosko!
So is this film any good? Well, the animation is good for 1932...nearly as good as the Fleischer Brothers' animations and a few steps below Disney....but clearly better than the stuff being made by Paul Terry at Universal and the Educational Pictures cartoons. As for the content, well, it's bland and unappealing but still not nearly a sickeningly sweet as the earlier Bosko films...not that this is high praise.
