Porky’s Hired Hand Review

Porky’s Hired Hand is a 1940 animated short film from the Looney Tunes series. It is a very uneven entry.

Now this is another one of those shorts which “stars” Porky but he is nowhere to be found. It is really getting frustrating by now, but not only because of his character and how unjust it is, but also because that decision usually hurts the cartoon itself. Here the fox and pig team up to sell chicken, but the fox ends up in an incubator room where he shrinks in that amusing ending.

This short is nothing spectacular, but it does have solid dialogue. It relies heavily on dialogue and it’s mostly pretty good with the voice acting being particularly strong, especially of the fox. The fox and the pig are both very well realized characters and although archetypal in their portrayal, it works because it is entertaining.

Porky’s Hired Hand did not need Porky at all. The fox and the pig themselves are a lot of fun and the cartoon is flawed, but solid.