In his first two films, Bosko was clearly intended to be a black character...with a VERY broadly stereotypical voice. However, Looney Tunes evidently took some heat for this or felt guilty, as pretty soon Bosko changed...with a more neutral voice and a seemingly less apparently black look to him. So, in this sense, "Congo Jazz" is a major improvement for the franchise.
The setting for this cartoon is odd...with jungle animals from Asia AND Africa combined. Such mistakes were common in 1930s films and many Tarzan and similar films did this.
As far as the plot goes, like so many Harmon-Ising cartoons for Looney Tunes, there really is no plot to speak of. Bosko is out hunting but never really tries to do any shooting except for a tiger that attacks him at the beginning. The true Harmon-Ising look then comes into play...with lot of cutesy animals which sing and dance about with Bosko. Ultimately that IS the plot to the cartoon...so it isn't especially deep nor satisfying.
For a 1930 cartoon, "Congo Jazz" is about average....not at good as a Disney product but close...and certainly better in quality than some of its contemporaries (such as anything by Van Buren Studios). Watchable nonsense. My score of 7 is relative to other cartoons of the day....and cannot be compared to a 6 of the 1940s or 50s when cartoon quality improved dramatically.
