AndrewBloom

7/10

[7.0/10] This short is incredibly hard to judge. Most of it is pretty dumb. I know this era’s animation is more about the visuals than the story, but even riffing on a well-known fairy tale, it’s hard to follow exactly what’s happening here. And while I enjoy the Fleischers’ rubber hose style, the cartoony gags here aren't especially clever or impressive. It’s notable that the queen resembles Olive Oil, and her inside out dragon bit is worth something. But Betty Boop herself is pretty annoying, and there’s not much to the proceedings otherwise. But holy hell, the interlude where none other than Cab Calloway inhabits Koko the Clown for a minute, sings “St. James Infirmary Blues” to perfection, and the animators blow you away with some rotoscoped brilliance, is justifiably an all-timer sequence. It’s worth trudging through everything else in the short just to enjoy that little stretch of genius. The down-hoe sound, the representations of the lyrics, the fluidity of the movements, the surreal nature of the visuals, all come together to form one of those shining moments in animation. Overall, most of this is drek, but for a minute and a half, it’s pure perfection, and the short is worth it for that alone.