07. Ain't Nature Grand! (1931)

Release date: March 14th, 1931

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

Starring: Bernard Brown (Bosko)

After the previous two Bosko cartoons, which were relatively plot based, we find ourselves back to our musical song and dance cartoon in Ain't Nature Grand! (there’s an exclamation point in the title card, it’s just cut off but it’s there.) 

The opening shot is the reflection of Bosko and his dog whistling (and barking) on their merry way to go fishing. Out of the blue, Bosko gets fed up with the dog’s barking and orders it to go home (damn, harsh!). Bosko then settles in right next to a sign that blatantly says NO FISHING.

Undeterred, Bosko peels off the N and the O to form worms that he places on his hook after an unsuccessful attempt to hook an actual worm. He begins to fish as we cut to a bird stalking a live worm, preparing to feast. A chase sequence occurs, with the worm eventually outwitting the bird and skinning him of his feathers by dragging him through various holes in the ground.

The chase sequence is definitely longer and more stretched out than it needed to be, but I love this gag regardless, especially the idea of fashioning a pile of feathers into a coat. Quite honestly, that’s probably the highlight of the cartoon. There isn’t much happening at all.

Back to Bosko, he finally catches a fish and wrangles it into his hands. Bosko asks the audience “Ain’t that cute?” and pets it, but the fish spits in his eye, reusing the same exact gag from Congo Jazz with a baby monkey in place of the fish.

We have some more dancing sequences, such as Bosko dancing with some frogs, and spiders using another spider as a maypole and dancing around it.

Then we pan to two bees and a dragonfly, who fashion some flower petals as a propeller to create a divebombing dragonfly. The bees find a beehive and transform it into a makeshift machine gun, inexplicably shooting Bosko with an armada of bees.

Although entertaining, it definitely feels out of place. All of these insects and animals are happily frolicking to a lush orchestral music score, and now out of nowhere we have Bosko getting pelted by bees? 

Nevertheless, Bosko seeks refuge in a water fountain and waits for the insects to divert. Once the coast is clear, he proudly pops out of the fountain and poses, iris out.

This is definitely one of the weaker Bosko cartoons as of yet. There have been a few plotless cartoons, but this one felt especially barren, reusing some gags (not that that’s always bad!) and stretching out different sequences. It feels as though they needed to meet the 7 minute quota.

With that said, there are some pluses! The animation isn’t bad at all, there are some fun and creative gags, and the background music is beautiful and charming, making for a very cheery atmosphere, and the machine gun sound effects accompanied by pellets of bees hitting Bosko are very funny and simultaneously fitting and humorously out of place. The short isn’t exactly bad, but it ain’t all that grand after all.