The Milky Way

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.

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.

OK, so I didn't love the squeaking singing as we meet the three little kittens who've lost their mittens - and it's freezing out there! Mama isn't impressed, so it's no milk and off to bed. These critters aren't happy that they've got no supper but are soon distracted by the Milky Way in the sky. How can they get there? There'll be loads of milk there, surely? Balloons might help, and a basket? There's the green cheese moon, the comet train, Martian shooting stars, and then they navigate the Dippers before arriving in a lactose Eutopia where there's loads of song-free fun to be had. Thing is, the moral of the story has yet to arrive! This is good fun with plenty of childish fun as the mice mess about in just about every milky substance know to man - or mice.

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."

This cartoon was notable as the first not from the Disney studio to win the Academy Award. It depicts three kittens who are sent to bed without supper because they lost their mittens. One of them sees the Milky Way up in the stars and decides to go up there to get some milk with the other two coming along. I'll just now say this was quite charming and imaginative and if you were a child who loved cartoons, this one was probably one of the cutest shown on afternoon TV during the '70s when one came home from elementary school. Rudolf Ising was the producer/director of this one and it doesn't look that much different from what his former employer Walt Disney was still making along this time. So on that note, I recommend The Milky Way for any animation buff out there.