Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Powerful

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was 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. That charm, sensuality and adorable factor is not lost anywhere here, nor her comic timing and she is very well supported by the ever fun Bimbo, the two have great chemistry together too.'Minnie the Moocher' (title taken from the famous Cab Calloway song) is quintessential Betty Boop. If anybody is a fan, 'Minnie the Moocher' is a must watch, and perhaps even people not so hot on her might get a lot of value out of it.As always, the animation is outstanding, everything is beautifully and meticulously drawn and the whole cartoon is rich in visual detail and imagination. Every bit as good is the music score, which delivers on the energy, lusciousness and infectiousness, great for putting anybody in a good mood.Like with pretty much all the early Betty Boop cartoons, meaning before the production code tightened up and everything became tame, 'Minnie the Moocher' certainly does not disappoint when it comes to being risqué, creative or delightfully bizarre. As a pre-code cartoon, a lot of the content here is very daring stuff, very ahead of its time back then and you don't see much like the pre-code Betty Boop cartoons made today. And it's done in a very hugely creative and humorous way, with a very high spirit and spookiness throughout. The voice acting is good as always.Overall, wonderful cartoon and for Betty Boop fans it's quintessential. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Minnie the Moocher (1932) *** (out of 4)Betty Boop gets yelled at by her parents so her and Bimbo decide to run away. They don't get too far when they run into a group of ghosts. The big highlight of this short is that Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra play a big part in it. The film opens up to a Calloway song and showing him do a dance and then once we get to the ghosts they are basically dancing to his music. We also see the main ghost dancing like Calloway was at the start of the picture. If you're a fan of the Betty Boop shorts then you'll certainly enjoy this one as there are some funny jokes throughout and the animation is extremely good. Another highlight are the actual ghosts that look quite good and there's no question that the music is excellent.

At the beginning of Minnie the Moocher, an animated cartoon from Max Fleischer based on Cab Calloway's famous song, we see the real Calloway doing his unique dance in live-action in what is supposedly the first time moviegoers saw him on the big screen. Then we see Betty, supposedly a teen, being harassed by his immigrant parents about the way she lives her life. As she cries in her bed at night, she writes a note saying she's running away and calls Bimbo to come with her. As they leave, the go to a cave that has a walrus doing Cab's steps (which was rotoscoped from the man himself) and singing the title song with various ghostly jailbirds and some cats joining in. During this sequence, Betty and Bimbo turn black before leaving the craziness behind in a rushed ending sequence that brings Betty back under the covers of her bed and the note she wrote ripping to just say "Home Sweet Home"...While Walt Disney seemed intent on using public domain symphony pieces for his Mickey Mouse cartoons, Max Fleischer was getting some of the best jazz musicians like Calloway and Louis Armstrong on his and Betty Boop benefits greatly from them. I'm guessing Cab enjoyed what was done with him here so much, he eventually made a couple of other cartoons with the Fleischers, Max and director Dave, like Snow-White and The Old Man of the Mountain. So on that note, I recommend Minnie the Moocher for any animation buff out there.

The best cartoon I've seen in half a lifetime. Doesn't say much since I'm still rather young. Point is though this seems like a visual (and also audio) symphony of swing. I only knew the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy version of Minnie The Moocher and only through coincidence did I find this and hear Cab Calloway's version... all I can say nice.What else is there to say, you almost get nostalgia to the days when you'd sit at home on the Saturday mornings and watch cartoons till noon. Back in the worry-less days.Perfect collaboration between the Boop and the Swing.