Pluto, der Caddie

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Pluto acts as CANINE CADDY for Mickey's golf game - with predictable results.

Good animation is the highlight of this otherwise unremarkable little film. The Pup has far more screen time than The Mouse, especially after the arrival of the requisite tiny critter - in this instance a gopher - into the plot to plague Pluto.

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, Bambi, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad. 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.

The next short film in Disney Plus' "Shorts" section is "Canine Caddy" a Pluto short from 1941. I only made one note to myself about this "Why is Mickey such a Jerk?"

Mickey Mouse goes for a round of Golf and takes his trusty hound Pluto with him to act as Caddy. Though initially a distraction, Goofy proves himself more than capable of tracking and locating a wayward ball and not above helping his owner out if the ball looks in trouble. Unfortunately, Mickey's game disturbs a gopher and Pluto ends up chasing the animal around the greens, causing untold damage to the area.

I mean, we'll ignore for the sake of the cartoon logic that Mickey believes that Pluto is capable of operating as a Caddy, making club selections, etc whilst being an actual dog. Why is Mickey so angry with Pluto when he does minor things like scratching, the noise of which puts him off? Then the big eared jerk has no issues with Pluto cheating to help him out, even though it seems like Mickey isn't playing against anyone. Once the Gopher arrives were in much more familiar territory for the shorts from this sort of era we've seen.

It was fine, if not particularly memorable.

Starting off with the good things, the animation is not bad at all, more pristine and colourful than it was in a short like Boat Builders(for example). The music was also wonderful, and the voice acting from Walt Disney and Pinto Colvig was pretty much top notch.

As for the not so good things, the gags come by thick and fast and are entertaining on the most part, but others are predictably done. While a day at the golf course is an interesting concept, the cartoon was a little uneven. One reviewer summed it up pretty well, it is a case of too much gopher, not enough golf. Don't get me wrong the gopher was cute and funny, but I wished I could see more of Mickey. Also the pacing was a tad too fast.

Overall, not a bad cartoon by all means, quite the contrary, it is just a little too predictable and uneven that is all. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"What a swell day for a game of golf," proclaims Mickey as he and his caddy "Goofy" set out to enjoy a round. In the end, his caddy demolishes the golf course by chasing a gopher around and around. the 18-hol course.

In between are some funny scenes with Goofy "pointing" to the ball, having the ball land on his butt and Mickey knocking it off and a few other things.

Too much of this animated short involves chasing the gopher and overall, it's just a "fair" cartoon. It just have stuck more with the golf story.

This is a very funny cartoon. I think my favorite part is when Mickey's golf ball gets into a sand trap and when he swings it, the sand goes onto Pluto and he starts to look like the Egyptian Spynx. I saw this down in Walt Disney World.