The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.
'Aladdin's Lamp' is unfortunately one of the misfires of the variable but generally watchable to pretty good level of the 1931 batch, along with 'The Explorer'. Not unwatchable by all means and not quite one of the very worst Terrytoons (towards the bottom though), but below average, mediocre even, and with not an awful lot to it.
As always with Terrytoons, the best component of 'Aladdin's Lamp' is the music, which is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The backgrounds for 1931 are remarkably detailed and there is some nice inventive visual detail, showing a studio that were aiming for ambition and succeeding in some aspects.
Some neat synchronisation and some lively energy.
However, like the previous cartoons and much of the ones since, the character designs are crude and don't match the amount of detail that went everywhere else in the animation.
Furthermore, while there is some charm here thanks to some details, the story is basically a truncated version of the 'Aladdin' story but just the basic details jumping from one to the others with not an awful lot of impact, let alone magic. there is an disorganised feel that makes things come over as choppy and vague, which gives 'Aladdin's Lamp' an odd vibe. Sadly, 'Aladdin's Lamp' doesn't have enough lively pacing (erratic here on the most part) to make up for all this.
Nor any good gags, which are too few and are far too random and short to make much impression, mostly repetitive and unimaginative transformation gags that don't even look visually appealing. The characters make very little impression, easily forgettable is the best way to describe them.
Overall, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox
'Aladdin's Lamp' is unfortunately one of the misfires of the variable but generally watchable to pretty good level of the 1931 batch, along with 'The Explorer'. Not unwatchable by all means and not quite one of the very worst Terrytoons (towards the bottom though), but below average, mediocre even, and with not an awful lot to it.
As always with Terrytoons, the best component of 'Aladdin's Lamp' is the music, which is incredible. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. The backgrounds for 1931 are remarkably detailed and there is some nice inventive visual detail, showing a studio that were aiming for ambition and succeeding in some aspects.
Some neat synchronisation and some lively energy.
However, like the previous cartoons and much of the ones since, the character designs are crude and don't match the amount of detail that went everywhere else in the animation.
Furthermore, while there is some charm here thanks to some details, the story is basically a truncated version of the 'Aladdin' story but just the basic details jumping from one to the others with not an awful lot of impact, let alone magic. there is an disorganised feel that makes things come over as choppy and vague, which gives 'Aladdin's Lamp' an odd vibe. Sadly, 'Aladdin's Lamp' doesn't have enough lively pacing (erratic here on the most part) to make up for all this.
Nor any good gags, which are too few and are far too random and short to make much impression, mostly repetitive and unimaginative transformation gags that don't even look visually appealing. The characters make very little impression, easily forgettable is the best way to describe them.
Overall, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox
