The Little Orphan Review

The Little Orphan is a 1949 animated short that is the 40th of Tom and Jerry shorts. It is a flawed, but quite good cartoon.

This short is such a disappointing one. The plot is basically repeated from ‘The Milky Waif‘, especially in the first half. And that first half is very slow and uneventful and just so uninspired. It has its moments mainly the finale which is endearing and cute and some of the action moments were interesting. Also, Tom was the highlight and he steals every scene he is in. He is the only character here who is utilized solidly.

The film received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and once again I am baffled at that choice. The Academy in the forties for the most part rewarded Tom and Jerry shorts that were of the weakest of the time which is just ridiculous as there were so many better choices in this series alone. This isn’t a bad film, it is solid for sure, but when compared to others in the series, it is uninspired.