Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.
Arthur Davis may not have been one of the all-time greats when it came to animation directors, and he was in the shadow of a stiff competition of animation directors (won't name them right now because that wouldn't be fair on Davis) with more distinctive and imaginative styles. He was nonetheless a competent director with enough solid cartoons under his belt. 'Bone Sweet Bone' is another one of his solid cartoons without being a great one.
As was said for Davis' 'The Rattled Rooster' (nothing to do with Foghorn Leghorn), the story in 'Bone Sweet Bone' is pretty unoriginal and slight in story. it's handled amusingly and paced well but there is an over-familiarity too much of the time for anybody familiar with the not so novel concept.
Some of the content could have done with more variety. It's not repetitive, there is a general freshness and again it's amusing, but again over-familiarity creeps in.
However, the animation is excellent. Beautifully drawn, very detailed and the colours are vibrant, complete with some great expressions and Davis' distinctive style of the characters moving from foreground to background.
Carl Stalling's music score is typically lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms, it's also beautifully synchronised with the action and gestures/expressions and even enhances the impact.
Although not hilarious, 'Bone Sweet Bone' amuses and entertains with some nice wit and good timing. The characters may not have much distinct personality or enough to have made them bigger or even stars but they were engaging and not hard to like, especially the bulldog, and the conflict is fun. The ever versatile Mel Blanc's voice acting is stellar.
Overall, quite good fun though won't blow anybody away. 7/10 Bethany Cox