Let's Eat (1932) Online

Despite Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his cartoons being popular and well received at the time, they have been vastly overshadowed over time by succeeding animation characters. It is a shame as, while not cartoon masterpieces, they are fascinating for anybody wanting to see what very old animation looked like.

After the 1932 batch of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons off to a promising start with 'Grandma's Pet' and 'Mechanical Man', which seemed to suggest that the 1932 cartoons would be much improved over the most disappointing standard of the 1931 cartoons (where about six were above average or more, and the rest average or less), 'Wins Out' was just as mediocre as the weakest 1931 cartoons. 'Beau and Arrows' was a big improvement and 'Making Good' was decent if unexceptional.

'Let's Eat' is the second weakest of the 1932 cartoons at this point, the weakest being 'Wins Out'.

Where it scores better than 'Wins Out' is the animation. A few primitive and less than refined moments here and there, but other parts are smooth and detailed with Oswald's movements, gestures and expressions still very much natural, like the generally freer, more elaborate and faster look of a good deal of Oswald cartoons at this time. Drawing has occasional crudeness but is mostly fine and transitions don't feel as choppy and incomplete as some of the worst Oswald cartoons.

Music is another strength. It has an energetic nature, fits well and is dynamic with the action, then again the music is nearly always good in the Oswald cartoons. Synchronisation is good.

Oswald is endearing and fun to watch.

However, the story is very thin and lacks energy or any kind of urgency. The gags are occasionally amusing but are too far and between in a cartoon where it's mostly rather predictable and repetitive.

The supporting characters aren't particularly memorable.

In conclusion, rather lacklustre though not terrible. 4/10 Bethany Cox

There's a lot of hillbilly music as Oswald and his dog go ice fishing in this primitive Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from Walter Lantz.

Although Oswald had been redesigned, the cartoon techniques used still emphasize the gags in a way that indicates that Lantz and William Nolan (who co-directed) were still in the synchronized cartoon era. There is almost no dialogue. The soundtrack consists of James Dietrich's score, composed to time the gags, and sound effects.

So how are those gags? Well, they structure them to give a storyline, which is good: Oswald and the dog are hungry and there is no food, so they go fishing; it's winter so they go ice fishing to little effect, since everyone else is hungry too. The gags are a bit behind the time. There are lots of transformation gags as Oswald uses the dog as an auger drill and skates. Someone was going to have to think of something news, and when they did, it would not be anything to do with Oswald.