Boring, long, and too preachy.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

On land, sea, and air Buster Keaton delivers gag after gag at a rapid fire pace in The Baloonatic. Moving from an amusement park to the great outdoors the hapless Buster for once ends blissfully, this time among the clouds.Once again the Great Stone Face endures a quite a pounding as a bear, a waterfall, a runaway balloon and a corpulent young lady put his life in peril. Accessing both urban and rural stages Keaton squeezes into the short's brief (23 min.) running time some tiny gems especially in the field and stream segment. Keaton's gadgets (a three piece canoe) and methodology catching fish along with his narrow escape finale are calamitously hysterical and ever more so by the implacable response of the irrepressible Buster. Phyllis Haver like the love interests in other Keaton comedies endures some roughhousing well enough and shows the right amount of snobbish imperiousness to give as good as she gets. The Balloonatic is one short satisfying high.

Balloonatic, The (1923) *** (out of 4) Buster Keaton tries to pick up women at an outdoor carnival but doesn't have any luck but he accidentally meets one of the women out in the wilderness where the two try to prove their survival skills. This is about medium range as far as Keaton shorts go but there are still some nice laughs including the haunted house bit at the start and near the end the bear gag works well.Available on Kino's The Art of Buster Keaton box set, which contains some of the greatest films ever made.

Despite the title, there aren't a lot of ballooning sequences in the film. While it is a balloon that takes Buster into the woods in this silent short, it is in the wild that the bulk of this movie is set.The film begins with Buster in a Fun House. Then, a few minutes later, he accidentally hitches a ride on the top of a balloon and goes from the beach to the wild wide open. The jokes up until then were just okay by Keaton standards. However, the jokes begin to improve and the film takes a nice leisurely pace as Buster makes himself at home in the great outdoors. He makes a boob of himself fishing, cooking out and almost gets eaten by bears, but he also meets a nice outdoorsy girl who he falls in love with in the end. Nothing really spectacular occurs--just like seeing Buster on vacation.

Buster Keaton was a man who liked to tinker with things and survive maelstroms. Both of these things come together in this short to tell the tale of a man who first gets trapped on a balloon, and then has to survive in nature in the middle of nowhere while trying to win the affection of the belle nearby.The beginning starts out in a carnival and isn't really that interesting. Surreal, to be sure, but after the audience figures out what's going on, most of the comedy of the situation doesn't work out as much. However, once Keaton gets on the balloon, it becomes a whole different story altogether, and definitely shows the inventiveness of such a comedic genius. When he's in the wild, as well, the situations he finds himself in is worth more than just a laugh.Overall it's definitely worth a good watch or two. Buster Keaton is the type of artist where everything he does is good enough to take a look-see, and definitely to rave about. Plus, being that this is a short, it's a quick thing you can watch with friends during a party or something. Highly recommended.--PolarisDiB