The premise didn't sound very original at all, then again that is something that one comes to expect from the Screen Songs cartoons the more that is seen of them. Meaning that originality is not to be expected. It also sounded like there was a danger of 'Gobs of Fun' feeling like it was produced ten plus years too late. The subject though had potential to be humorous and cute. The Famous Studios Screen Song series was always hit and miss, some being surprisingly good, some very weak and most falling in between.
1950's 'Gobs of Fun' is one of the average in between cartoons in the series and left me pretty mixed. It is far from being one of the worst Famous Studios Screen Song cartoons from the late 40s and early 50s, not like 'Spring Song', 'The Stork Market' and 'The Ski's the Limit'. It is also not one of the best, like 'Little Brown Jug', 'Toys Will be Toys' and 'The Big Flame Up'. 'Gobs of Fun' is not a terrible cartoon but it isn't particularly great at the same time, with similar strengths and issues with other average efforts from the series.
'Gobs of Fun' does have a number of good things. The animation here is very good on the whole, as tended to be the case with much of the series. Especially the vibrant colours and equally loved the background detail where a lot of care went into it, the setting looks handsome and colourful. The incidental music is even better, very lushly orchestrated and full of character rhythmically. The song "Strike Up the Band" is uplifting and is one of the series' most memorable and infectious, in a series where the featured songs varied (mostly hits).
Some of the sight gags, and there are plenty of them in the first three quarters, do amuse and don't get too corny or too cute, even though the content is not particularly original. Some of the characters are quite engaging in personality.
As usual for the Screen Song series, the story is paper thin and formulaic with erratic pacing. The middle is quite fun and lively, but it slows down and had a run out of ideas feel in the singalong portion. Despite the great song, this portion felt fairly old-fashioned and corny. While the gags are not humourless and we are not short changed, all of them are pretty deja vu standard and the running gag with the bear got very stale and repetitive. That is the biggest danger with running gags, and personally cannot count the number of times it has been fallen into.
While most of the animation is fine, the character animation is very basic and primitive in the singalong portion. Do agree that the ending is weak, almost like the crew didn't know how to end it and tacked one on.
Overall, rather average. 5/10.
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