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.

Not all the Walter Lantz cartoons are bad, 'Permanent Wave' and 'The Hash Shop' for examples are perfect proof of that, but some of them are not good representations of Oswald or Lantz and for historical interest only. There have been worse cartoons of theirs before and since 'Hot for Hollywood' but almost all the Disney and Winkler era Oswald cartoons are much better and 'Hot for Hollywood' is not a patch on the best of those two eras.

Sound quality for a cartoon so old and techniques still in its early days is not as primitive as it could have been. Some of the gags do work, enjoyed a cameo appearance from a character that looked like Charlie Chaplin's tramp.

The music is as energetic as ever too, and Oswald, while having much better material and deserving of it, is still pretty endearing. Pete is a great partner. The animation is quite good, not as crude as in some of the Lantz Oswald cartoons and Oswald's movements, expressions and gestures are well done.

'Hot for Hollywood' however drags a little from the slightly drawn out, but admittedly amusing and visually inventive, scene with the piano. Even for an Oswald cartoon (which are not exactly to be seen for their stories), to say that the story is flimsy is an understatement, it's barely there that it's easy to say that there isn't one. Some of the pacing lacks sharpness and a couple of the gags suffer from over-predictability and less than crisp timing.

In summary, decent if not great. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Animation is a form of visual storytelling that involves creating visual art and motion through the use of various techniques and technologies. In animation, images are manipulated to create the illusion of movement, bringing characters, objects, and environments to life. Animation can encompass a wide range of styles, themes, and intended audiences, making it a diverse and versatile form of storytelling.

Daveigh Chase, Rumi Hiiragi, and Mari Natsuki in Spirited Away (2001)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

A Universal Walter Lantz animated short. Oswald does a screen test hoping to become a star in Hollywood.

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