Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Freeman
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . over how a major American movie studio such as Warner Bros. could have released an animated short in such poor taste as BOSKO THE DOUGHBOY. The 21st Century audience of Today no doubt would reach a solid consensus that DOUGHBOY is Racist (the final "Mammy" Al Jolson-style Blackface "joke"), Misogynistic (when Bosko's gal gets beheaded by a mortar shell), Simplistic (DOUGHBOY's answer to guns is always MORE guns), and Infuriating (while our Brave Allies are fighting the Battle of Benghazi or something, Bosko and his hippo buddy Dell are playing MUSICAL APPRENTICE in the safety of the Trenches on a Tom Hanks BIG-style walk-on keyboard), just like Donald J. Trump. That's right, the always prophetic Looney Tuners carefully crafted DOUGHBOY to speak specifics for the first Major U.S. Presidential Candidate consistently refusing to speak them for himself, our Beloved Trumplestiltskin. With DOUGHBOY, Warner is warning Military Veterans in particular of what the ONLY American Game Show Host personally beholden to BOTH Russia and China for billions in secret "loans" has in store for the American Heroes of the Homeland: Oblivion. Just as Trump has gone on record for hating our Stalwart P.O.W.s because the U.S. Taxpayers (a group which apparently that does NOT include Donald J.) pay them for "featherbedding" while they are being detained by the Enemy, he's sure to hate our Purple Hearters with an even greater loathing, since there are so many MORE of them than ex-P.O.W.s eating up tax revenue through their Veterans Hospitals that Trumpenstein would rather divert to build Trump Towers in EVERY major U.S. city on the government dime. Therefore, the minute that Leader Trump evicts the Obamas, he plans on showing DOUGHBOY to ALL U.S. Veterans in an effort to raise their suicide rate to AT LEAST 90%. Just remember: Every vote for Bosko is a vote for Trump (and Vice Versa). As Donnie is always saying, What do you have to lose?
MartinHafer
Considering that approximately 11,000,000 people were killed during WWI, you would think it would be a topic that was taboo in cartoons. Yet, inexplicably, this is the second Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes cartoon set during the war that I've seen in the last couple weeks (the other being "Boom Boom" from 1936). Both are set in the trenches and both show the rollicking good time that can be had in the war!! Call me a killjoy, but I just can't understand this sort of subject in a cartoon.The film has a big strike against it at the start--it was made during the Harmon-Ising era at Looney Tunes. I say this because their productions emphasized cute and their creation, Bosko, was rather cutesy and bland. But, at least there is no singing in this one! Overall, it's animated well but also a bit unsavory. Plus, some might raise an eyebrow at the ending with its cheap attempt at humor (Bosko is burnt to a crisp and does an Al Jolson imitation). Overall, better than most Harmon-Ising cartoons but that still isn't saying a lot.
Robert Reynolds
Bosko shorts generally have very good animation and there are some very nice visual sequences. I want to talk about some specifics here, so there are spoilers: This is the second war-oriented Bosko (after the earlier Dumb Patrol), both using World War I as the setting. While Bosko was an aviator in the first one and it was a good deal lighter in tone and mood, Bosko is an infantryman in the trenches in this one and some of the gags are actually a bit like "gallows" humor-characters get shot and collapse in comically exaggerated manners, weapons are hit and "die" just like the other characters. This being a Bosko short, he and other characters play music at odd times and in unusual ways.There are some very dark and somewhat serious animated bits here, mixed in with the comedic absurdities throughout the short. Bosko has a running bit with his helmet whenever he tries to get out of a trench. Some of the typical gags found regularly in Bosko shorts are here, of course-Bosko is eating from a can when we first see him, in the same exaggerated style the animators tended to use, for instance. There's also a gag involving a pair of long johns and the back flap in this one. That said, there are some stylistic flourishes here that aren't standard in a Bosko and this is a fairly good short which holds up well after roughly 75 years. Well worth seeing. Recommended.
Afternothing99
On the Image Entertainment release of 'Uncensored Bosko, Volume One' Stephen Worth of "Storyboard Magazine" proclaims on the back cover that "One of the best cartoons ever produced is 'Bosko The Doughboy' (1931).'" Don't you think that's stretching it a tad? I can see his enthusiasm, the cartoon is well designed and well executed, but a story is non existent, and it lingers for about a minute before it Iris's out. If you want good cartoons see something like 'Wyken Blynken And Nod' or 'Somewhere In Dreamland' or 'Old McDonald Had A Farm'. I suppose if you are a die-hard animation fan and historian like myself, watch this one. The short is presented on 'Uncensored Bosko volume one', in fair condition, with a few scratches, and the film runs seven minutes.
