Little Pest (1931) User Reviews

As the Title

[boblipton · 4/10 · 31 October 2009]

Fair warning first: I am not a fan of this series, which seems aimed not so much at small children, but at adults who imagine that small children are cute little darlings. While occasionally this series did turn out good entries (SUNDAY CLOTHES, from the same year and director, is pretty good for the first five minutes), the writing of this series called for each gag to top the last, and when the quality of one joke falls behind, the entire short never recovers.

This one starts fairly annoyingly as Scrappy and his dog are going off fishing, to be pursued by the even littler kid. Scrappy finally dissuades him, and this is done in a more or less realistic style, completely at odds with the style of drawing. Once, however, he reaches the fishing spot. we get treated to a series of cartoonish gags which seem utterly disconnected from the gags in the first half.

For fans of the series and completists only.

Hooray for child abuse!!!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 16 August 2012]

This film was recently featured in an article on Crack Online entitled "5 Old Children's Cartoons Way Darker Than Most Horror Movies" and after seeing it, I would agree. It's sick, sadistic...and a lot of fun to watch.

Scrappy and his dog are going fishing, when his little brother, Oopy decides to tag along with them. Oopy is a pest and Scrappy deals with it the right way--by beating the toddler! First he smacks him and then beats the tar out of him! Oddly, this didn't dissuade Oopy or cause him to be taken to the hospital, so when Scrappy arrives at the lake, so does Oopy. Later, Scrappy gets really sick of the little brother and tosses him in the lake--where he drowns. Scrappy thinks he might get the electric chair for this and brings him back to shore and revives him. Then, when the brat asks for a drink of water, Scrappy tosses him back--presumably to drown once and for all!! This is a super-sadistic cartoon--and much more so than the Looney Tunes cartoons in the following decades. However, it's this completely irresponsible and sick nature of the film that I thoroughly loved!! For the most part, cartoons of the early 30s were sickeningly sweet and annoying--and this one is making a sick statement to the contrary. This is NOT a film to show young kids, but IS a great one to show your friends--they'll marvel at the savagery in this one!! And, in a creepy way, it's quite funny.

By the way, because I liked this cartoon so much, I tried watching some later Scrappy films. Sadly, they were much more saccharine and less violent--and, consequently, not all that good.