West of the Pesos (1960)

West of the Pesos Review

West of the Pesos is a 1960 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is a very good cartoon.

Sylvester the Cat is a guard at a Mexican experimental laboratory where mice are confined for research. The families of the captured mice place a call to Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in Mexico, to help them rescue their compadres. I would have liked from this movie to utilize its setting a bit more. It was very dark actually and interesting, but somehow they failed to make a bigger use of it.

With that being said, the gags are here very strong. In particular, Speedy stole the show. His catchphrases are hilarious and once again the funniest parts were the broken Spanish dialogue that was present throughout the cartoon. An emphasis on his womanizing behavior as well as his cool speedster personality was excellent. The animation is polished as well. Sylvester is solid while the other mice are also quite memorable here.

West of the Pesos could have made use of its setting even more, but the humor is solid and the dialogue is particularly strong and witty.

My Rating – 4