My Friend the Monkey (1939)

My Friend the Monkey Review

My Friend the Monkey is a 1939 animated short film from the Betty Boop series. It is a pretty good cartoon.

A hurdy-gurdy man comes by Betty Boop’s house. She wants to buy his cute baby monkey. While Betty is outside haggling over the price, the monkey is inside causing plenty of trouble for Pudgy the Pup. This is one of the strangest Betty Boop shorts out there. While I did find its uniqueness admirable, it was ultimately too odd for its own sake.

The animation is fine and Betty got some solid moments for herself here, but this is not among Pudgy’s best outings as he is forgettable here and his dynamic with the monkey is never as amusing as the movie clearly meant it to be. The monkey and his owner were both too goofy and so much of this plot made no sense.

My Friend the Monkey is a weird Betty Boop short that has its moments, but for the most part it was too odd and unsatisfying.

My Rating – 3.2