Shipwreck

Shipwreck (1931)

09 Feb 1931 • Animation, Short • 0h 6m
Loading...

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 third cartoon of the 1931 batch of Lantz's Oswald cartoons 'Shipwreck' is a lacklustre effort with not much if anything special here. This said, 'Shipwreck' is notable for being the first time Oswald can be seen wearing gloves.Its best asset is the animation, not as elaborate as the first cartoon of the 1931 batch '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.Synchronisation is not too sloppy, even if the sound occasionally lacks resonance, and while he has had better material Oswald is fun and likable.However, as ever the story is paper thin and doesn't have the energy seen in the animation or heard in the music. 'Shipwreck' 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. A couple of cute gags and scenes but nothing more than that.The sound sometimes lacks resonance and occasionally some the drawing is a little crude.In conclusion, okay but nothing special. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Ray Abrams, Tex Avery, Pinto Colvig
Writer
Tex Avery, Pinto Colvig
Starring

Language: English
Awards:
Country: United States
Metacritic Score:
DVD Release Date:
Box Office Total:

3.9

IMDb (20 votes)
Loading...