Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle (1932)

Load of rubbish!!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The charm, sensuality and adorability factors can be seen throughout 'Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle', as is a daring risqué factor when she dances the hula that makes one literally marvel at what the cartoon is getting away with. She is a joy to watch, as is an amusing Bimbo, though there is a scene where he paints his face and puts a bone in his hair that may seem tasteless to some.Furthermore, the black and white animation is very good, smooth, meticulously detailed and well drawn with the black and white not looking too primitive. A lot of it is actually very imaginative. Even better is the music, which is rousing, catchy and unquestionably accessible to anybody who loves or is familiar with the compositional style.'Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle' has a lot of charm and fun, with nothing dull about it. It is very strange, but in a richly inventive and quite wonderful way.Not much to quibble about here. It is thin on plot and that aforementioned scene with Bimbo is very likely to touch some sensitive nerves.Otherwise, a fun Betty Boop cartoon with the animation and music being particularly good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle" is an 8-minute black-and-white cartoon from 1932 and like all the other Fleischer Studios cartoons starring the title character, this one has sound. It could also be name after Bimbo though as he has at least as much screen-time and story impact than Betty here. This is a good watch for everybody who loves Betty and Bimbo as a couple as their romance becomes much more explicit than it usually does between the two. but this is also the only memorable aspect here. the music is so-so. The supporting characters are not interesting at all and the story offers little to care for really. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the cuteness factor is not enough to make up for all the mediocrity in other areas. But I can still see why it is among Betty's more known works, even if I give it a thumbs-down.

This short opens with a live action sequence of the 'Royal Samoans' Pacific island musicians before the cartoon starts. After the credits we see Bimbo playing his ukulele as his motorboat zooms around the ocean; the land opening for him to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans! Eventually he lands on a Pacific island and meets a girl who looks suspiciously like a Polynesian Betty. The two of them paddle up a river till they are thrown from the boat into a clearing surrounded by Ent-like trees. Soon some savages arrive but thanks to some quick thinking Bimbo dons a disguise and Betty entertains everybody with a hula dance! This was another entertaining short; as usual the animation is highly inventive; I don't know where all the strange ideas came from but they are a lot of fun! It is clear that this cartoon was made before the Hayes Code came into effect as we see Betty dancing wearing nothing but a grass skirt and a lei to protect her modesty. This is certainly a fun short and it is far more inventive than most of today's animation.

The Betty Boop cartoons -- or "Talkartoons" were always superior musically to the competition but Disney usually was better in terms of animation. The Fleischer Brothers, however, were always ahead technically, both with sound (in 1924) and here, were the dance numbers are clear animated using rotoscope.