User Reviews

Pete makes fun of the kid working as a soda jerk, so Oswald steals his fur coat. The next day, during the cross-country race, they're neck and neck in this unexceptional Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from Walter Lantz' studio.

College movies were stuck in a rut in terms of what college life was like and would be for the next decade and a half, so there's no reason to hold this one up to scorn. However, there's no reason to admire it for anything except for its use of those tropes for comedy purposes and it does a mediocre job of that. In fact, one of the comedy props is Pete's wooden leg, so while that might have been okay for the era, it makes it pretty unwatchable for the modern viewer.

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.

While Walter Lantz was responsible for some good Oswald cartoons, though not all the best of his era were as good as the best of the Disney and Winkler eras, but also some lacklustre at best ones. While far from one of his worst, the second cartoon of the 1931 batch of Lantz's Oswald cartoons 'College' is a lacklustre effort with not much if anything special here.

Its best asset is the animation, not as elaborate as his previous cartoon 'China' but smooth and detailed enough and very natural movements, gestures and expressions for Oswald. Not far behind is the energetic music score that is dynamic too with what's going on.

Sound and synchronisation is not too sloppy, even if the sound occasionally lacks resonance, and while he has had better material Oswald is fun and likable.

Pete however, while working well with Oswald, deserved much better than what he got, he doesn't have much funny or interesting in 'College'.

As ever the story is paper thin and doesn't have the energy seen in the animation or heard in the music. 'College' also does nothing new with an idea fairly old in animation, similar concepts have been done to better effect since. If the material was good they may have been a little more forgivable, but there is very little if anything that is funny, let alone inventive, here, too much suffering from being too predictable and drawn out.

In conclusion, watchable once but nothing special, nothing to warrant to me more than one watch. 4/10 Bethany Cox