Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.
Ko-Ko similarly was an always amiable character to watch and among the better recurring characters in Fleischer's early work. Likewise, his series of Out of the Inkwell cartoons were among the best early efforts of Fleischer and silent cartoons in general. 'Modeling' is a great example of this, one of Ko-Ko and Fleischer's best early efforts, even if the material of the later cartoons was wilder and more inventive.
The story, as can be expected, is slight, do agree that some sound would have elevated things even more and personally do prefer the later Ko-Ko cartoons in terms of humour style, but criticisms are very few.
Everything else though is done so brilliantly that any issues had with the story don't stay for long. The delight of the witty character interplay and the remarkably seamless mix of animation and live action are only a couple of things.
One expects the animation to be primitive and very low quality, judging by that it's the early 20s when animation techniques were not as many, as refined, as ambitious and in their infancy. While Fleischer became more refined and inventive later certainly, 'Modeling' is remarkably good visually, with well drawn and clever animation and nicely shot live action that gel with each other beautifully.
Pacing is lively and 'Modeling' is never less than very funny with adept gag execution. Ko-Ko has great comic timing and is very likeable, and Max is a great match.
In summary, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox