Pests of the West

A Walt Disney PLUTO Cartoon.

A couple of PESTS OF THE WEST - father & son coyote - attempt to raid the hen-house guarded by the ever vigilant Pluto.

The plot has been reworked many times, but the results are enjoyable. This was one of a handful of little films to feature Bent-Tail the coyote and his dimwitted offspring, Bent-Tail, Junior, as The Pup's antagonists.

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.

As with a lot of Pluto shorts, the story is routine- basically Pluto vs another animal formula, which forms most of his shorts- and that is little to Pests of the West that is new, but with the amount of energy and fun that Pests of the West has this seems like a minor issue. You've seen the gags before, but because they're so imaginatively timed and cleverly animated-plus they were amusing gags in the first place- they still work very well and are funny. The animation is brightly coloured and very fluid, what is done with the characters' facial expressions and gestures is just as good. The music adds a lot, how it always matches so well with the visuals and humour in Disney(and other cartoons from other studios, WB's Looney Tunes being the best example) has been one of the Disney shorts' strengths but to hear music that has a lot of character and with the ability to be memorable and lushly scored is even more impressive. The crisp pacing and fun interplay between all three characters make up for the routineness of the story, and even then the story still entertains because it is a fun scenario in the first place and suits all three characters like a glove. Pluto hasn't lost his likability and he is fun to watch as well as being a well-meaning protector(Pests of the West uses him well and actually knows what to do with him). But he does play second fiddle to the coyotes and their conflict, because with their contrasting personalities and the great amount of visual comedy between them(this visual comedy is near-classic quality too) these two characters are an absolute joy. To conclude, enormously fun and easy to like, there's little new but what there is is still done really quite wonderfully. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Pluto is a guard dog in a farm house in the old west. A pair of sneaky desert wolves are planning to be eating chicken for dinner tonight and it's up to Pluto to stop them.

I really am more of a Warner Brothers fan than a Disney fan – espically when it comes to cartoons of this period, I always felt that WB had more imagination. However Pests of the West is actually pretty amusing and has plenty of energy to it.

The plot is nothing new but the characters are underhand and sneaky and this adds to the feel of the cartoon. I did laugh a few times and quite enjoyed some of the routines.

For those who like a bit of an edge or imagination to their cartoon humour then this is a good solid entry from Disney.

You could tell by first looking at the two coyotes (a male and his cub) that they're as dumb as rocks - pests indeed! They attempt to sneak by guard dog Pluto in order to sneak a couple of chickens from their coup back home for dinner. However, their clumsiness and ineptness awaken Pluto and he chases them off.

Pluto is a winner in this cartoon short - nice to see him as a hero and protector of some sorts, even if it is just chasing dimwitted animals around.

Grade B-