Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"The Pet" is a 12-minute cartoon from 1921, so this one is already 95 years old. It is an entry to American animation pioneer Winsor McCay's "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend" series and it's possibly the best one. I was tempted for a while to give this one a 6 out of 10, but I will say shortly why I decided not to. Of course, this is a black-and-white silent film still. There are two stories in here. The frame includes a man and woman lying in bad and the man has eaten a rarebit (a toast full of baked cheese, I had to check that) before sleeping and we get to see his nightmare that resulted from the meal. His woman takes in a tiny pet and keeps feeding it until it becomes bigger. Bad news is it won't stop growing and at the very end it is about as big as a dinosaur and wreaks havoc in the city. I liked the way the creature looked I must say, but I also think that the story is so simple that it is almost not enough for over 10 minutes. I also did not like the way they got back to reality at the very end showing us the couple, but only very briefly. Nobody says something, nobody does something and the film is over. This is a very early example of a dream sequence in film, something that is used very frequently nowadays. All in all, it was a good cartoon for its time I guess, but I would only recommend it to film historians because there are indeed some flaws in here.
Boba_Fett1138
This is really obviously a movie from the early days of animation. It's of course completely done by hand all and even by just one person; Winsor McCay, who before venturing into animated movies was already a successful cartoonist.The concept of this movie also comes from a successful newspaper cartoon done by him. This movie was the first out of three, which he based on his successful comic 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'.It really isn't a very smooth and stylized looking animated movie. The character movements are extremely awkward at times for instance and the sequences really don't always flow that well. Most sequences even feel overlong and it just doesn't always get to its point quick enough. Also the animation style itself, so its characters and such really aren't anything too impressive looking. The backgrounds on the other hand were quite good looking.But as for the actual entertainment value of the movie, it's certainly a good enough movie to watch. It has an amusing concept, which get executed well, mostly in its second half.The movie at its beginning cites Winsor McCay as the inventor of animated drawing but this simply isn't true and seems to be an early advertisement trick. it's true though that he was the first animator who's movies became a big commercial success as well and reached a wide audience with his movies.Very early animated movie, that is still entertaining enough to watch now days.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
tavm
The Pet is another entry in Winsor McCay's animated series Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. In this one, a man has just eaten a rarebit of the title. His wife has warned him about having bad dreams for doing so to no avail. As he dreams, we see outside of the house a small animal that's hard to identify but-according to the word put on screen-says, "Meow." The woman picks him up and decides to keep him. She gives him a bath and feeds him milk on a saucer a little bigger than him. After he's done, however, he becomes a little bigger than the bowl which turns over on his entire body as he leans his head forward. He later eats a cat under the table and then an electric lamp on it (and doesn't even get electrocuted!). The husband then goes to the store to get a barrel of rat poison in order to kill this "pet". After the pet eats it, he develops some splotches on his body but they disappear quickly as he keeps growing. He eventually grows as tall as the tallest building in the city as more than dozens and dozens of planes appear and shoot him to pieces as the man finally wakes up...As always, McCay gives great detail in backgrounds that make you almost forget you're watching animation. Many humorous touches throughout as when the "pet" swallows a hose before spewing water through a neighbor's window at a neighbor! And that final sequence with all those pieces of the "pet" falling down. Wow! As with anything that McCay has done, The Pet is certainly essential viewing for animation fans.
Snow Leopard
This is an amusing and imaginative 'Rarebit Fiend' feature that makes good use out of one basic idea to provide material for a number of good moments. Most of it is simple elaboration on the basic premise, but the way that Winsor McCay steadily builds things up makes it work pretty well.This time, the rarebit-induced dream concerns an unusual pet that quickly gets out of control. As its rampage gets worse and worse, some of the shots bring to mind similar sequences from numerous later movies, such as "King Kong" and "The Lost World", and this gives "The Pet" even extra interest.In itself, it's pretty good as well. The animation is of McCay's usual high quality, and it works quite well for its era.
AD
