Three Little Kittens

Van Beuren cartoons are extremely variable, especially in the number of gags and whether the absurdist humour shines through enough (sometimes it does, other times it doesn't), but are strangely interesting. Although they are often poorly animated with barely existent stories and less than compelling lead characters, they are also often outstandingly scored, there can be some fun support characters and some are well-timed and amusing.

'Three Little Kittens' may be a somewhat odd cartoon and yes it's definitely not what you usually find in early cartoons from other studios like Disney and Fleischer around this point, but generally it's one of the better faring Van Beuren cartoons. While there are a few of the usual flaws, there are also improvements in some aspects over a vast majority of Van Beuren's previous efforts. Even their best, which still managed to be quite good, had weak spots (often the animation).

Like many Van Beuren cartoons, the animation is less than great. It's primitive at best and generally looks crude and sloppy, especially the character designs. 'Three Little Kittens' does feel like a cartoon of two halves with the second half being more interesting than the first.

Furthermore, the first half while amusing and adorable is paced in a way that the cartoon takes too long to get going.

However, the cute factor doesn't get too excessive and is pretty endearing and charming with a few amusing touches. Also, to show a contrast between little kittens and the big personality heroic figures they become in the second half, the approach was necessary. The second half is more interesting, although tonally it's very far removed from what came before it, where there is more of a story and has tighter pacing and more going on. Maybe the different tone disjoints 'Three Little Kittens' somewhat, but it didn't stop the increasingly violent and crazy antics from being unsettling and oddly fun to watch.

Younger children may find it disturbing and younger audiences were probably not ready for full on violence of that nature. For adults, children who are familiar with Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes (like the anarchic style of Bob Clampett), and by today's standards, 'Three Little Kittens', while the oddity factor remains, is pretty tame and won't be anywhere near as much of a shock. Only the saw and noose parts disturbed me mildly.

The cats are adorable but with big personalities and the rat is a sinister antagonist (though yes his treatment is scarier). While slight and standard formula stuff with a slightly sluggish first half, 'Three Little Kittens', unlike a lot of Van Beuren's previous output, actually has a story, has a lively pace without too hectic and it's not incoherent. Best of all is the music score, it is typically peppy and great fun to listen to. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action. This is especially the case in the second half and even more so the climax.

Overall, odd but good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A real oddity, this cartoon. It starts off with the three kittens singing and dancing, the sort of sugary cuteness typical of cartoons of the thirties, then veers off into a wild orgy of violence. The villain of the piece is a large rat, who isn't nearly as scary as what's done to him: After being lured from his hiding place he has his head slammed in a cash register, is hanged by the neck, then bombarded with walnuts, fruit, cans, burning cigars and pesticide. Finally, a heavy shoe is hoisted into a bombs-away position and dropped from on high, crushing the rat's head. (This is for kids?!) The kittens then exit, singing and dancing.

Went from cute to creepy to crazy in a matter of seconds.

Three kittens are playing in a store. There's your usual soft music accompanying the games. And being an early cartoon....some scenes tend to linger. But young kids would enjoy it.

However....

They shouldn't see what's next.

A large, ugly rat resembling something you'd see painted on a 1960's era dragster steps in and starts the terror. He kidnaps one of the kittens and ties him to what looks like a meat slicer. VERY graphically shown. The cries for help will scare young 'uns for SURE.

But his buddies save him. Then attack the rat in what can only be called an absolute avalanche of violence. They throw everything at him non stop. This might cause more hyper active kids problems for obvious reasons.

Very early cartoon that occasionally shows up on DVD's containing banned animation.

WOW. This short is possibly the best short to show to an adult that thinks that cartoons are for kids. Parents...be warned. Though the title might suggest kids stuff, this is not! I'm not into censorship one bit, but keep this away from kids until they are old enough. Worth seeking out just to be pretty surprised by the outrageous violence. The funny thing is, the violence is not cartoony, it just looks disgusting. If you want to watch this cartoon beware - the story line is terrible, and it's badly made.