Bosko's Store: A weird little slice of nothing

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? No. Unless you are some kind of completionist for animation history or you just really, really like watching a store clerk shuffle around, skip this one. If you’re the type who finds comfort in repetitive, low-stakes cartoons, maybe you'll get a kick out of it. Everyone else will probably be checking their phone by the three-minute mark. 📺

Bosko's Store is basically just a chore list brought to life. There isn't much of a plot, just Bosko doing tasks and singing, or talking to himself. It reminded me a bit of the aimless energy in Felix Pinches the Pole, though without any of the actual charm or inventive gags.

The experience

The pacing is… well, it’s not really pacing. It’s just stuff happening. At one point, Bosko is cleaning a shelf and the movement is so jerky it feels like the frames are fighting each other. It’s not even that funny, just sort of there.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Bosko's Store (1932) through its definitive frames.

Rochelle Hudson shows up, and you can tell the animators were trying to put in a little extra work, but the interaction feels stiff. It lacks the weird, frantic magic you see in other shorts from the era. It feels like the animators were on their lunch break and decided to just finish the reel as fast as possible.

• The background art is oddly plain.
• I swear the sound effects loop every ten seconds.
• One of the customers has a face that looks like it was drawn in a hurry.
• The ending just sort of happens, like they ran out of film.

It’s not a disaster, just deeply forgettable. Sometimes I think we put too much weight on these old shorts, acting like every single one is a masterpiece. Sometimes a cartoon is just a way to kill five minutes, and not even a very good way. 💤

If you’re looking for something with actual stakes, maybe check out The Running Fight instead. Or don't. I'm just a guy typing this at 2 AM after a cup of coffee that was way too strong.