Wonder Dog

Wonder Dog is not one of my favourite Pluto cartoons, but I do like it very much. It is a little routine in terms of story perhaps, but it is crisply paced with some humorous, well-timed gags. The animation is clean and smooth, with a vibrant colour palette, and the music is energetic and dynamic, always enhancing the impact of the action. Pluto is the star here, he is always cute and entertaining, and he is well supported by brutish Butch and beautiful Dinah(I just wish there was more to see of her after this cartoon).

All in all, Wonder Dog is a recommendable canine treat of a cartoon, technically great and always amusing. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A Walt Disney PLUTO Cartoon.

Jealous of Dinah the dachshund's adoration of Prince the WONDER DOG, Pluto tries to impress her with his own pathetic skills - which in turn attracts the unwanted attentions of Butch the bully bulldog.

This humorous little film marked the final appearances by both Dinah & Butch. While Pluto always was the romantic winner in his cartoons, it is just possible that his two canine costars discovered puppy love with each other and took a joint early retirement. The celebrated Bill Peet was one of the writers of this cartoon.

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.

Pluto daydreams of his crush Dinah, but she has got her sights set on Prince, the Wonder Dog in the circus. So, Pluto envisions himself performing Prince's tricks and gets to actually do some circus-inspired stunts, albeit unintentionally, when he grapples with Butch.

Much of the cartoon short is Pluto daydreaming about being Prince, but I liked the scene where Pluto parodies Butch - aggravating him to the point where he chases Pluto around. Butch was actually a refreshing addition to the cartoon short consumed with lovestruck stuff.

Grade B-