Pluto's Kid Brother

A Walt Disney PLUTO Cartoon.

It's bad enough when PLUTO'S KID BROTHER gets into trouble with Lucifer the alley cat, but when he starts emulating Butch the bully bulldog things have gone too far.

This little film's routine animation is compensated for with the amusing story. This would be both the Kid Brother & Lucifer's only cartoon appearance (Lucifer should not be confused with the identically named black feline in the feature CINDERELLA, 1950).

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Don't get me wrong I love Disney and I have always liked Pluto. But I have always considered Pluto's Kid Brother one of Pluto's weakest cartoons. Granted, the animation is very good, with beautifully drawn characters and colourful, fluid backgrounds, and the music has so much character to it. Pluto has always been cute and energetic and his role in Pluto's Kid Brother is no exception, and his general irresponsibility proved good potential for this cartoon. However, while I admire the attempt to introduce a new character and not neglect Pluto, KB(Pluto's kid brother should have been compelling but felt bland instead. Structurally, Pluto's Kid Brother felt disjointed, scenes rush from one scene to the next with little amusing or coherent, with Pluto's struggle with the cat weird(and actually by not involving KB makes him even blander) and the scene with the dog a little more involving, though Pluto going all blazes and then backing away made little sense. In conclusion, as usual it is technically fine but it didn't leave much to be desired in terms of story. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Pluto's Kid Brother (1946)

*** (out of 4)

While this here isn't the greatest short ever produced by Disney it's got enough laughs to make it worth watching. Pluto's younger brother K.D. is visiting and constantly getting in trouble. He eventually teams up with a bulldog to steal some sausage, which leads to an issue and Pluto must save the day. PLUTO'S KID BROTHER is a pretty charming film because of the mischief that K.D. gets into and there are some pretty funny moments throughout. One of the highlights deals with K.D. trying to stand up to the bulldog. The animation is of the highest quality as you'd expect.