Little Brother Rat Review

Little Brother Rat is a 1939 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is quite a funny cartoon.

This is one of the best Merry Melodies of 1939 by far. I really enjoyed it. It is about Sniffles the mouse who has to get an owl’s egg for the other mice, but angers the owl. Eventually he saves the baby owl and in gratitude, the father gives him the blue egg. The film has a weaker first half and it is most definitely a Disney Warner Bros. film, but it is quite possibly their best attempt so far at a Disney flick.

That is because that second half is so phenomenal. I really liked Sniffles and that father owl is very memorable and with a great voice. The baby owl is immensely cute. I liked the simplistic, but sweet plot and the ending as well. The cat sequence is the highlight, especially visually as the silhouette animation is gorgeously put to use here. The entire film is actually superbly animated with a fine level to detail and wonderful character design.

Little Brother Rat definitely is a Disney film, but a good one with a sweet plot, likable characters and arresting animation.