Put-Put Troubles

Donald and Goofy go to some lake for a quite day of sitting around in a boat. Have you ever know of any of Donald's attempts at nice days to work out? Well, this time round the torment is not all that imaginative.

First of all Goofy swallows a frog (about the billionth time Goofy has swallowed something that drives him crazy) and is bothered by a nasty spring while Donald's outboard motor either won't start or rips the ramshackle boat apart.

It's only slightly imaginative and the mayhem slightly inspired. Donald's done better than this and the only real laugh comes right at the end.

A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.

Donald hopes for a quiet day in his motorboat with Pluto, but PUT-PUT TROUBLES will soon put an end to that aspiration.

Fine animation and good gags highlight this little film, which was one of only a handful to team The Duck and The Pup. The exigencies of the plot, however, keeps them apart most of the time. Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplied Donald's unique voice.

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.

This is a one funny Disney cartoon, featuring Donald Duck and Pluto, that delivers laugh-out-loud comedy. A day of boating goes awry for the two characters, delivering some very hilarious results, from Donald grappling with the boat engine to Pluto getting himself tangled with a spring.

The facial expressions from the two characters were just classically comical and the gags were just clever - from Pluto doing the jig with the spring to Donald creating a zipper-line in the sand with his boat. Just pure fun here!

Grade A

In all honesty, I don't consider Donald and Pluto the strongest of pairings, but as a Disney short fanatic I would still watch it. Put-Put Troubles does have its foibles, aside from a title that some mayn't find the significance of. The story does feel like two stories merged into one, there is certainly a feeling of two different shorts here and for me it didn't quite gel. Apart from some very funny gags, much of it is slow-moving with little that leaps out as new or fresh. While Donald and Pluto are great characters individually, I don't consider their pairing strong enough for them to be a proper team. Surprisingly as well, Pluto came across here as a stronger character than Donald, I mean surprisingly because I do consider Donald a far stronger character overall. Donald undeniably has some great moments, but Put-Put Troubles doesn't ever play him or his personality to their strengths, we see little of Donald's temperament or frustration, which are fundamental parts to his character. However, Put-Put Troubles is still entertaining. And that is mainly thanks to the gags, which are very clever and funny, the most imaginative being the ending, though the spring coil around Pluto's neck, the gag with the sandbar, the smoke from the boat making Donald look like a convict and Pluto dancing are great too. The continuous Pluto being caught in the coil gag gets very routine after a while and loses any humorous impact. The animation is crisp and colourful, and there is a wonderful music score that is lively and lush as well as enhancing the action. Pluto dominates the screen-time in this short and he is enormous fun. As said though, Donald while having his moments was rather disappointing for me. Pinto Colvig and Clarence Nash's vocal acting is as always wholly reliable. Overall, Put-Put Troubles is entertaining but something is missing and I think the two stars being much better from characterisation and utilisation points of view has something to do with it. 6/10 Bethany Cox