The late-40s to the early/mid-50s Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons had a higher budget and overall the overall quality was much better. Onwards, the quality did diminish quite significantly though the overall cartoons varied, some decent, many mediocre.
Famous Studios' cartoons are not for all tastes, but my opinion is that their early stuff and some of the early 50s output are good. While they were very formulaic they were always well animated and voiced with some funny parts, some poignancy and decent characters and their regular composer Winston Sharples could always be relied on to write a great and often outstanding score.
Admittedly though, by the mid-50s through to the late-60s Famous Studios' cartoons did get repetitive. While Sharples' music still shone and the voice actors did their best the animation suffered due to lower budgets and tighter deadlines, the humour became more tired and slow in timing than sharp and funny, the stories became increasingly predictable and rehashed and some characters started losing their initial spark, this is particularly true of most of the later Herman and Katnip cartoons.
'Boo Bop' is one of Casper's best later cartoons, one of the best since 'Boo Moon' by a wide margin and almost one of his best overall. It is nowhere near as repetitive as most 50s Casper cartoons, is one of the funnier and best paced ones and one of the cleverer ones.
Only the animation disappoints somewhat. Some nice vibrant colours here and there, but sparse rather than meticulous backgrounds and character designs that look like they were drawn in haste betray tight deadlines and a low budget.
However, Winston Sharples' music score is outstanding as always. It is typically merry and whimsical, it's beautifully orchestrated, energetic and adds so much to the mood, his music has always been one of the best assets of the Famous Studios cartoons and it's not an exception here. In fact how it's composed and how it meshes so well with everything going on in the animation, story and action contributes to it being the best thing about the cartoon. Loved what was done with the "Unfinished Symphony".
Casper is a kind, good natured and amusing character, and the ghost of Franz Schubert is a great supporting character and their chemistry hugely entertaining. The story is one of the cleverest and least repetitive, the gags are the tightest and funniest of any Casper cartoon in a while and 'Boo Bop' is one of not many later Casper cartoons to avoid falling too twee and over-sentimental. The voice acting is good.
In conclusion, was very pleasantly surprised by 'Boo Bop' and compared to most mid-late 50s Casper and Famous Studio cartoons it fares very favourably. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Famous Studios' cartoons are not for all tastes, but my opinion is that their early stuff and some of the early 50s output are good. While they were very formulaic they were always well animated and voiced with some funny parts, some poignancy and decent characters and their regular composer Winston Sharples could always be relied on to write a great and often outstanding score.
Admittedly though, by the mid-50s through to the late-60s Famous Studios' cartoons did get repetitive. While Sharples' music still shone and the voice actors did their best the animation suffered due to lower budgets and tighter deadlines, the humour became more tired and slow in timing than sharp and funny, the stories became increasingly predictable and rehashed and some characters started losing their initial spark, this is particularly true of most of the later Herman and Katnip cartoons.
'Boo Bop' is one of Casper's best later cartoons, one of the best since 'Boo Moon' by a wide margin and almost one of his best overall. It is nowhere near as repetitive as most 50s Casper cartoons, is one of the funnier and best paced ones and one of the cleverer ones.
Only the animation disappoints somewhat. Some nice vibrant colours here and there, but sparse rather than meticulous backgrounds and character designs that look like they were drawn in haste betray tight deadlines and a low budget.
However, Winston Sharples' music score is outstanding as always. It is typically merry and whimsical, it's beautifully orchestrated, energetic and adds so much to the mood, his music has always been one of the best assets of the Famous Studios cartoons and it's not an exception here. In fact how it's composed and how it meshes so well with everything going on in the animation, story and action contributes to it being the best thing about the cartoon. Loved what was done with the "Unfinished Symphony".
Casper is a kind, good natured and amusing character, and the ghost of Franz Schubert is a great supporting character and their chemistry hugely entertaining. The story is one of the cleverest and least repetitive, the gags are the tightest and funniest of any Casper cartoon in a while and 'Boo Bop' is one of not many later Casper cartoons to avoid falling too twee and over-sentimental. The voice acting is good.
In conclusion, was very pleasantly surprised by 'Boo Bop' and compared to most mid-late 50s Casper and Famous Studio cartoons it fares very favourably. 8/10 Bethany Cox
