The Bosko cartoons may not be animation masterpieces, but they are fascinating as examples of Looney Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons.
After an interesting if just slightly above average and not much more pilot cartoon 'The Talk-Ink Kid' and the decent 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' and 'Congo Jazz', 'Hold Anything' is not great and the execution is variable but most of it works well. While a hit and miss cartoon, it hits more than it misses, or at least to me it does.
'Hold Anything's' weakest element is the story, very much like 'Congo Jazz' the story here is more a paper-thin excuse to string along music and gags with a few draggy stretches and an ending that doesn't feel that well rounded off, pretty anti-climactic actually.
Most of the gags work well, but faring less well is the repetitive business with the goat's tail, that was good the first time or two but grew tired quickly especially when the more it happened the less inspired the methods got. Honey is also rather bland.
On the other hand, the animation is not bad at all. Not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail, it is especially good in the meticulous backgrounds and some remarkably flexible yet natural movements for Bosko. The music is 'Hold Anything's' highlight component, its infectious energy, rousing merriment, lush orchestration and how well it fits with the animation is just a joy.
While none of the gags are hilarious, most of them are amusing, like the udder gag and the goat being floated up as helium. Parts are cute and there is much less of a static feel than there was in 'The Talk-Ink Kid' in sound quality. Bosko is never going to be one of my favourite cartoon characters, or among the all-time greats, but he has more personality this time round and it's more endearing than before.
In summary, variable but mostly works. 7/10 Bethany Cox