My Boy, Johnny (1944)
My Boy, Johnny Review
My Boy, Johnny is a 1944 animated short film from the Terrytoons series. It is a standard WWII cartoon.
This is yet another World War II cartoon and it’s rather forgettable overall. Paul Terry rarely made truly memorable and great movies, and this one is no exception. Let’s first state the positives. The animation is very good admittedly, and I liked the character design in particular. The film offers a look at future after the war, American patriotism, men returning from the war, pin-up girls etc.
All of that was portrayed very realistically and in documentarian fashion. The titular song is also quite good. But otherwise, it felt very repetitive, dated in its patriotism and simply never meaningful in any way. It is also too much like a documentary with no good structure or characterization to it.
My Boy, Johnny has a good song and animation, but it’s otherwise standard and far from great, leading to a questionable Oscar nominee.
