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 a mostly disappointing standard of the 1931 Oswald cartoons, apart from about seven or eight, judging from 'Grandma's Pet' (Oswald's take on 'Little Red Riding Hood') and this cartoon 'Mechanical Man' the 1932 batch of cartoons is set to have potential of being higher and more consistent in quality.
'Mechanical Man' may not be one of the best Oswald cartoons, the story is thin and does veer on the confused and overly oddball at times, there are a couple of bizarre and lacking in sharpness gags and for a titular character the robot could have had a little more to do.
However, the animation is good and has some imaginative moments. It is smooth and detailed with Oswald's movements, gestures and expressions still very much natural. Drawings are fine and there is little if any choppiness or incompleteness.
Even better is the music, so catchy and has such an infectious energy. Most of the gags are very amusing and a few even more so than that.
Oswald is very endearing, as is his girlfriend, and the villain is a suitably dastardly nemesis if a little archetypal.
All in all, quite good fun and almost as good as the previous cartoon 'Grandma's Pet'. 7/10 Bethany Cox