After being repeatedly attacked by lightning, Felix seeks shelter in King Cole's castle. There the braggart King regales him with tales of his bravery. However, the ghosts of the previous kings are sick of this and decide to teach the guy a lesson. But, unfortunately, by the end of the film the King has learned nothing.
Had I never seen any of the early Felix the Cat cartoons done during the silent era, I would have been more positive in my review for "Bold King Cole". However, this incarnation of Felix by Van Beuren Studio has practically nothing to do with the original character and you really have to see him as someone other than Felix. It just is NOT Felix. The original Felix was very surreal. For example, when he wanted to travel to Africa, he crawled there through the Trans-Atlantic cable! But here, he's more of a nice guy do-gooder--not the sassy jerk I love in the older black and white films.
In the place of the old Felix, you now have a much better looking Felix. This Van Beuren cartoon is MUCH better animated than the typical Van Beuren film and the color film stock is very, very nice--and looks almost as good as the films coming from Disney. Additionally, the Van Beuren cartoons make a HUGE mistake--they have Felix and other characters sing. While this was very common in the 1930s, this also tends to make the cartoons rather sappy. It's no surprise, then, that so few were made by the studio and I am sure the public was NOT impressed.
I noticed one other reviewer called this 'one of the best cartoons ever'. I would definitely not agree and suggest that from this same time period are some significantly better cartoons--such as Disney's "Ferdinand the Bull", "The Ugly Duckling" and most of the Mickey Mouse cartoons of the 1930s.
