Brother Brat

Funny Porky Pig short directed by Frank Tashlin. It's World War II and many women are pitching in by going to work while the men are overseas. A female factory worker bullies Porky into babysitting her child. The kid turns out to be a tough little character who gives Porky more than he bargained for. Great voice work from Mel Blanc and Bea Benadaret. Nice music from Carl Stalling. The animation is beautiful, particularly the early parts talking about the women helping with the war effort at home. Some really nicely drawn stuff here. The colors are also lovely throughout. It's a fun short with some memorable gags and lines. The kid and his mom outshine Porky though.

This time, Porky Pig has to baby-sit a bad-ass infant named Butch, while the baby's mother goes to work in the factory, a la Rosie the Riveter. Obviously, the wartime stuff is probably going to make us cringe a little nowadays, particularly since the mother uses a derogatory word for the Japanese.

But otherwise, it's really funny to see how the baby tortures Porky, and even goes so far as to imitate Winston Churchill in one scene. So even if it's not the greatest cartoon ever, "Brother Brat" is still pretty funny. Worth seeing.

And yes, use a book. In fact, stop reading this review and read a book.

Porky Pig babysits a violent brat named Butch for a mother who works at "Blockheed". This was shown recently, removing the baby making a reference to Hitler. I was surprised they didn't cut this: Mother: "You want those Nazis and Japs bombed off the Earth, don'tcha?" This is a Frank Tashlin classic.

While there are more interesting characters in the Looney Tunes canon, Porky Pig, while more effective somewhat as a supporting character to stronger lead characters (i.e. Daffy Duck), is likable enough.

He is certainly likable and sometimes amusing here, and his chemistry with the mother and Baby Butch is good, but he is a little bland. Especially when compared to those two.

The mother, or "The Woman" as she's called, bags all the best and funniest lines, the "United Nations" line being particularly priceless. Baby Butch lives up to what the title suggests, he certainly is an absolute brat but instead of being irritating he is very funny, especially his imitation of Winston Churchill and his line about Hitler.

Further strengths are some beautifully drawn and even more beautifully coloured animation, and a vibrant, energetic and dynamic music score from Carl Stalling who seemed incapable of putting a foot wrong. 'Brother Brat' is very funny, hilarious even often, with the lines being very witty and not easy to forget and cleverly timed, beautifully animated and imaginative gags.

Voice acting, especially from Mel Blanc, is top-notch. Bea Benaderet and Robert C. Bruce is too up to Blanc's level.

In conclusion, very enjoyable cartoon with very little against it actually, the only noticeable sort of problem being Porky feeling a touch bland compared to the mother and Baby Butch. 8/10 Bethany Cox