Making Good (1932) Poster

(1932)

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6/10
Average early Lantz sound Oswald
llltdesq31 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is a cartoon in the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series produced by Walter Lantz. There will be spoilers ahead:

From my point of view, the most interesting aspect of this cartoon is that Fred "Tex" Avery is listed as one of the artists who worked on it. Otherwise, there's nothing terribly good or bad about it. It's done without dialog and there's some enjoyable animation and a few good gags, but it isn't anything special.

The premise here is that a stork is flying into Fairy Tale Land with a less than welcome bundle. Oswald spots it and races ahead to give various animals warning. The best bot in here is a turtle serving as a taxi after Oswald starts his engine.

Oswald successfully warns an old bird and a family of squirrels before the stork drops a load of bugs on the Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe and they become here "children". There's a nice bit of animation showing the old lady dancing.

Cue next menace-a puppy which is huge compared to the other characters. A fondness for chewing shoes is established before he spots the old woman's shoe. Oswald tries to save the shoe by calling help by blowing his whistle, but the dog eventually chews up the shoe. Oswald ultimately saves the day in a novel fashion.

This cartoon is available on DVD, Lantz Studio Treasures Starring Oswald, which was produced by Thunderbean. The DVD is well worth getting and this cartoon is worth watching.
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6/10
The Stork Comes to Fairyland
boblipton13 August 2013
Although some of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons had already been produced squarely as talking cartoons, this is a very late example of a synchronized cartoon. It's basically a silent cartoon with a score. No one speaks.

It has a very childish set of gags. This is apparently a deliberate choice as the Stork brings hundreds of baby bugs to the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe and Oswald helps her deal with the infestation with his dog and a whistle. Although it is not to my taste, there is a clear succession of gags that advance the plot and they are beautifully executed. Although this is not one of the great Oswalds that Lantz' staff turned out in the previous two years, it should keep you amused throughout.
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6/10
Oswald and the stork in Fairy Land
TheLittleSongbird3 July 2017
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.

Apart from misfiring with the mediocre 'Wins Out', the 1932 batch of Oswald cartoons so far have been quite promising, with 'Grandma's Pet' and 'Beau and Arrows' being particularly good. The 1932 batch of Oswald cartoons has real potential to be of a much better standard than the mostly disappointing one of the 1931 batch (where only six, 'Country School', 'The Farmer', 'Radio Rhythm', 'The Bandmaster', 'The Hunter' and 'Wonderland', were above average or more).

'Making Good' is not as good as 'Grandma's Pet', 'Beau and Arrows' and 'Mechanical Man' but it isn't the mediocre cartoon that was 'Wins Out'. There is not much special or exceptional about 'Making Good', at the same time it hardly has lots of massive flaws. Decent and just about above average, if not much more.

The story may lack originality (not a new premise and has been done with more imagination and consistent humour elsewhere) as well as being very thin on the ground and forward momentum isn't always there. A few of the gags are a little on the childish side and it ends on a little bit of an odd note.

However, 'Making Good' does do a good deal right. It is the animation that is the bright spot here. It may occasionally lack refinement, but most of it is 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 and the stork is amusing enough. The gags are mostly fun and mostly raise a good chuckle or more.

All in all, above average if not a whole lot special. 6/10 Bethany Cox
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