I'm not a Fan of Terrytoons and I don't usually see many of their Cartoons but of the Few I've seen this is one of the Crude ones there is.
The Short is about a Dog named Dimwit being Exploited in his Work and because of that he fell into vice, he consumes Tobacco to control his Nerves and Drinks Coffee in excess so as not to fail in his work, something that a person in real life It would hurt him a lot.
Dimwit decides to go to a psychologist and he recommends 3 things to relax, 1 Carpentry, making furniture and working with wood is not bad, right?, 2 Photography, taking photos and choosing the perfect one costs time but you will get some memories!, 3 and last, the art, Drawing can sometimes be tedious but with time and effort you get something, right?.
Seeing himself frustrated and not being able to relax because everything goes wrong, he finds no better remedy than to take out a revolver and go to the doctor's office to assassinate him, later Dimwit is seen Breaking stones in the Prison and apparently he likes that and why finally manages to relax!.
The Animation is Typical of Terrytoons, that is, it is not Good or Bad and to a certain degree it is Decent, the Movements are not Fluid but they look good, the Character Designs are quite good and the Backgrounds are Decent but the Animation looks strange in some scenes and that reduces quality.
The Music as well as the Animation is intermediate, it does not have energy like that of Scott Bradley in Tom and Jerry nor as much Fun as that of Carl Stalling or Milt Franklin in the Looney Tunes and not even some Tension like that of William Lava in The Pink Panther, the music doesn't feel Fun or Energetic and becomes a bit boring due to how Slow and Simple it is but at times it fits well.
The Voice Acting is Decent, the Narrator does a good job of narrating the short and gives it some ambience, the Sound Effects are quite Simple and don't have anything that makes them stand out.
In itself, How To Relax is not the best that Terrytoons has to offer, it is not within the Reach of other short films with serious themes such as Blue Cat Blues or Life With Feathers but I cannot say that the Short is bad, it made me laugh in some scenes due to the absurdity of the development and Dimwit's Low Intelligence but Life With Feathers still had a serious theme made me laugh much more than this short.
The Music, the Animation and the Serious Setting Mix Badly, the Music is Slow and Boring, the Animation is uneven and the Theme is quite serious and the short does not mix all these qualities giving rise to an uneven Short that is not up to par Other Great Cartoons of the Time.
For everything I said How To Relax gets a 6.