Although Keaton pends relatively little time flying below the balloon, the 2 passages that relate to the balloon are certainly surreal. In the first such segment, Keaton uses a ladder to get to the top of the balloon being prepared for take off. When the appointed flier.steps into the basket, and the balloon takes off, he's left on the ground, because there is no bottom to the basket!. Never fear, Keaton will make his way from the top to the basket. He also initially finds that the basket has no bottom. But, strangely, when he is putting the duck decoys out below the basket, and when he is readying his rifle to shoot any bird attracted to the decoys, clearly, there must be a basket bottom. He sees what appears to be a white dove or pigeon clinging to the balloon. and fires his rifle, making a hole in the balloon, causing a rapid decent. He lands in a tree, breaking his fall, with a steam nearby, and somebody's canoe., which he makes use of after figuring out how to make the 3 sections stay together and not leak.....At the end of the film, when the canoe contains Keaton and a young sports woman, drifting down a river, the resurrected balloon comes into play again, being tied to the canoe, though not visibly, and whisking the canoe to safety when they go over a waterfall.......Another gag I found amusing features the sportswoman being confronted by a stray giant steer. Keaton, seeing the problem, fetches his rifle and makes his way across the river, submerging his rifle in the process. He takes aim, and shoots, but only water comes out, which hits the girl((Phyllis Haver) in the face. She now musters more courage, takes the steer by the horn, and wrestles it to the ground.......Much time is spent watching them fishing, or being chased by bears. I would have preferred more adventures in the balloon.

With a promising beginning, Keaton finds himself atop a balloon, descends to the basket only to find there is no floor and then uniquely brings the balloon down to ground. What follows are a series of loosely connected and often amusing gags. However, the whole ends up being less than the sum of the individual parts. No compelling strand effectively connects these humorous moments. The movie is worth watching because Keaton's genius always offers the unexpected; it will, however, provoke chuckles rather than laughter.

The Balloonatic is always on a high when it comes to entertainment value present in Keaton shorts. For the first time, it begins with a close up shot of a spooked Keaton at The House of Trouble, a haunted house at an amusement park. As the camera zooms out of his face, we see him walk towards three different rooms, each time to be surprised by a spooky figure. Once he gets out of the house, he watches a stout lady enter the same place. She loves the haunted house so much she enters the second time.

Keaton however moves on to another thrill and soon finds himself on top of a hot air balloon. The balloon crashes and Keaton lands on a tree. While fixing the balloon, he also goes to a lake and tries fishing; in his Keaton-esque manner, he tries to block the flow of water by placing a barricade rocks at the shallow point, only for the water to collect on the other side and soon crash into the barricade and take Keaton along. He encounters a girl who attacks him at first for coming in her way when she dives into the lake, but later becomes close to him.

The ending takes you by surprise as you fully expect a disaster only to be baffled. That's the high point of The Balloonatic, another triumph in the joyful Keaton shorts.