Little Boy Blue

This is an early color cartoon based on the nursery rhyme. It's strictly an excuse to build up a jazz score, using various nursery rhyme characters. It has little going for it other than a repetitive use of cliches.

This is an Ub Iwerks Comicolor cartoon. Like most of the Comicolor shorts, it has lovely animation but not much else going for it.

When the story begins, lazy Boy Blue is sleeping away as the Wolf is stalking for prey. The Wolf grabs a girl's sheep (perhaps she's Mary from Mary Had a Little Lamb) and Boy Blue and his scarecrow spring into action.

So what's not to like about this one? Well, it starts off with some very sappy singing--the sort of stuff that make many 1930s cartoons practically unwatchable today. Additionally, bland characters and a rather creepy scene where the scarecrow is decapitated make this a tough film to love.

Little Boy Blue (1936)

** (out of 4)

Ub Iwerks directed this animated short, which is just a knock-off on Disney's Big Bad Wolf series. Little Boy Blue might be the title but the real story deals with a wolf trying to eat a baby sheep. Little Boy Blue and a scarecrow eventually come to the rescue. For the most part there's really nothing overly entertaining here, although if you are a fan of the director then you'll probably want to still watch it. The animation is pretty good for the most part and there's no doubt that the wolf character is mildly entertaining. The biggest problem with the film is that the story just isn't all that original and nothing fresh is done with it.

This one was released a couple of years after the classic Disney short entitled "The Big Bad Wolf". I saw this short under the same exact title on a DVD compilation of cartoons.

Instead of chasing the Three Little Pigs, this wolf is terrorizing the sheep of Little Bo Peep. Her sole black sheep does an exaggerated dance routine and then dons a wolf mask to scare the white sheep. Unbeknownst to him, a real wolf has been carefully watching and decides to pull a prank of his own.

The wolf is able to grab one of the sheep and carries it away. Once inside his domicile, the wolf grabs a multitude of knives and begins to sharpen one of them. It's up to a singing and dancing scarecrow(!) to race inside and try to save the helpless woolen creature. There isn't an impressive moment in this one and I would stick to watching the superior short which this was likely inspired by.

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.

1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1936's 'Little Boy Blue' is very disappointing, and a contender for being the weakest of the series, it's between this and 'Mary's Little Lamb' for that title for pretty much the same reasons as each other.

'Little Boy Blue' is very slight, pretty plot-less, and is too saccharine, like at the beginning. There is just not enough content and the middle especially is where one feels the over-stretching.

Its characters should have been much more interesting, their personalities are bland to the point of being personality-deprived. The title character has too little a role and is neither likeable or compelling. There is far more imagination and humour in other cartoons in the series, it is just as and even more bland as the characters. A vast majority of it is not very funny, could have had a sharper kick pace-wise, has very little conflict or enough urgency and tries too hard to be cute that it goes too far the other way.

However, 'Little Boy Blue' has merits to stop it from being completely dull. There are a few amusing moments that aren't too repetitive or corny, though this is very sporadic, and there is some charm here and there, again not enough. The wolf is by far the most interesting character, the only one to make an impression, and is amusing and menacing. Billy Bletcher couldn't have voiced him more perfectly.

Furthermore, the animation is great apart from an awkwardly animated Mary. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music, by far the best thing about the cartoon, is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon.

Overall, another example of a worth a look once but not repeat viewings cartoon. 5/10 Bethany Cox