Genre Animation

Mickey's Kangaroo (1935)

Item: Mickey's Kangaroo
Rating: 2.5
Author: Ross McLaren

★★½ — Mickey's Kangaroo (1935)

There's a particular kind of film watching that's less about enjoyment and more about archaeology, and Mickey's Kangaroo sits firmly in that category. Eight minutes of 1935 Disney, preserved in amber, and about as consequential as a sneeze. I don't mean that unkindly. But I do mean it honestly.

The premise is exactly what it says on the tin. Mickey receives a kangaroo, the kangaroo is chaos incarnate, and Pluto takes the brunt of it. That's the whole thing. What little narrative architecture exists amounts to "animal causes havoc, repeat, credits." Even for a short cartoon from nine decades ago, it's thin stuff. The gags don't really build on each other so much as they just occur, one after another, like items on a shopping list nobody bothered to organise properly.

And yet. The animation itself is genuinely worth a look if you've got any interest in how Disney developed its craft during this period. There's a looseness and energy to the movement here that feels like the studio stretching its legs. You can see them working out how to make characters feel physical, weighted, expressive. Compare this to something like Barnyard Olympics from a few years earlier, and the improvement in fluidity is real and noticeable. They're clearly getting somewhere, even if this particular short isn't quite sure where it's going once it arrives.

The timing holds up better than you'd expect for something this old. A few of the physical gags land with reasonable snap. But the problem is there's no proper punchline waiting at the end of the road. The short just sort of stops rather than concludes, and you're left with the mild feeling of having watched someone else's home movie from a holiday that wasn't especially eventful.

Mickey himself is on cheerful autopilot here. He's doing his can-do, gosh-gee thing, and there's warmth in that, there always is with early Mickey. But he's not given anything particularly clever to do, and the kangaroo, despite being theoretically the agent of chaos, never generates the kind of escalating comic momentum you'd want. Pluto's frustration is probably the most relatable thing on screen, which tells you something.

What's interesting, in a historical sense, is thinking about where Disney was headed from here. Just a couple of years after this short, they'd deliver Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a film that feels like it was made by a completely different civilisation. Watching Mickey's Kangaroo, you can spot the seeds of that ambition in the animation style, even if the storytelling instincts haven't caught up yet. It's the work of a studio still figuring out that technical skill needs a worthy vehicle.

Two and a half stars, and I'm being generous on the basis of historical interest alone. As a piece of animation history, it earns a quick look. As an actual viewing experience, it's pleasant enough for eight minutes in the same way a biscuit you've already forgotten eating is pleasant enough. Fine in the moment, gone from memory almost immediately. Seek it out if you're working your way through the early Disney catalogue, or if you're curious about the mechanics of how they used to construct these things. Just don't expect to be laughing about it afterwards.

Rating: ★★½ | Year: 1935 | Watched: 2025-08-28

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Physical: Amazon US

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