The Milky Way

This is dated, big-time, with most of the "narration" done is song and in the old-fashioned harmony of the '30s singers. It's a trip through space by three little kittens in a makeshift air balloon.

The three little kittens had lost their mittens, so it was no milk and an early bedtime for them. They gaze at the stars, see the Milky Way, and figure if they could get up there, they'd have all the milk they want. So, with the aid of a basket and three balloons, they head up into the heavens.

Where the film must have impressed Oscar voters was the depiction of the cheese-filled moon, comets, shooting stars from Mars, the big and small dippers, and all the variations of milk products in the Milky Way. All of those were portrayed fairly cleverly, but nothing exceptional. In fact, the whole thing looks pretty primitive and one wonders what kind of competition there was for the award that year. To have this win an Oscar is very puzzling. It's okay, but that's it.....just okay. I mean, it's a "cute" cartoon but not funny.

I saw this as part of a Marx Brothers DVD which a double-bill with "Go West" and "The Big Store."

Remember that "The Milky Way" was released in 1940, and that the likes of Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Bob Clampett were just beginning to develop a new style of cartoon that would catch on during the war years and basically bring an end to the cutesy genre that includes this film. Indeed, if a panel in 2010 had to pick the Oscar-winner from among this film, "A Wild Hare," and "Puss Gets the Boot," this one would definitely come in third. But the panel that awarded the Oscar to "The Milky Way" was doing so in 1940, so it's not fair to condemn them when that particular style of cartoon was still popular. Having said that, I will admit that parts of the film are a bit saccharine by today's standards, particularly the narration in song. But anyone who can look at those kittens and not find them appealing has a cold, cold heart in my opinion. In fact, anyone who says the artwork is Disneyesque is paying the film the highest compliment, given that Walt Disney is the gold standard of animation. Dreadful? Hardly. I'm as big a Bugs Bunny fan as they come, and I know that even edgier cartoons like "The Simpsons" and "South Park" have pushed the envelope even more. But I can take the eight minutes of "The Milky Way" and see it as a pleasant alternative to much of today's stuff.

"A Wild Hare" was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film, but was nudged out by the winner, MGM's June 1940 "The Milky Way" was the Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film, the first time Walt Disney, placing most of his resources on his feature films at the time, didn't earn an Oscar in that category. In fact he was shut out of the three nominated. Besides "A Wild Hare," MGM's "Puss Gets the Boot," a forerunner to Tom and Jerry cartoons, was the other nominee. In back of their minds the Academy voting members must have remembered the Disney look since "The Milky Way" resembles Walt's 'Silly Symphonies's' cartoons, which he ended in 1939.

The Rudolph Isling-directed "The Milky Way" has three kittens punished by their mother for losing their mittens while playing in the snow, to which they're sent to bed without their milk. They dream of going on a balloon space flight to the Milky Way, where all forms of milk is delivered and gulped down by the ravenous kittens. When they wake up, their mother regrets what she's done and prepares a dinner for them-of milk. The three kittens' stomachs churn just at the thought of milk.

MGM did a movie tie-in with the National Dairy Council, promoting "The Milky Way" with milk bottle caps as well as cards displayed in grocery store windows. The studio also advertised the cartoon on billboards alongside the National Milk Month logo.

Three little kittens lose their mittens. Their mom punishes them to go to bed without any milk. They tie balloons to a basket and ride up to The Milky Way where milk is everywhere. This is adorable. This is directed by Rudolf Ising. It reminds me of when I was a kid, I didn't understand the phrase, "raining cats and dogs". So I wrote a story for school assignment. The teacher thought that I was imaginative when in reality, I was just dumb.

This cartoon is done reasonably well, is enjoyable enough and worth seeing, but, although I can understand why it won (monumentally cute with well-drawn backgrounds and the closest thing to a Disney style short that was nominated), I don't think it should have. It's competition included the very first Tom and Jerry and a Bugs Bunny directed by Tex Avery. The Tom and Jerry should have won hands down. The Milky Way has some nice touches, but the other two were more interesting and more novel for the time. Oh, well. The Academy has got more right than wrong in Animated Short over the years. This one shows on The Cartoon Network from time to time.