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, a joy to watch as always.
'Betty Boop for President' is interesting for its historical content and when it comes to the concept and the material it is one of the most unique and interesting Betty Boop cartoons. On its own merits, it's still a lot of fun. This said, some of the jokes may, most likely to in fact, go over heads of children and some modern viewers not familiar with what they're referencing. Mostly it wasn't an issue for me, but there were one or two parts where lack of familiarity meant the joke fell flat.
However, 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.
Writing-wise, it's often very clever and funny with the jokes a vast majority of the time very sharply written and timed. There is a lot of charm, a lot of energy and the story is more eventful than most Betty Boop cartoons.
All in all, a lot of fun and interesting if not completely successful. 8/10 Bethany Cox
