TheLittleSongbird Lend a Paw is a great cartoon. Perhaps not one of my favourites, it definitely could have been longer by two minutes I think. However, it looks beautiful, everything looks fluid and Mickey's intense look was a great piece of character animation but what was special was the use of colour, blue for when Pluto is frozen, green to signify the devil's jealousy and yellow for when the devil is confronted by the angel. The music is lovingly orchestrated and does wonderfully yet again in enhancing the action. There are a few humorous moments, but it is the poignant pathos and strong suspense that made an even bigger impression. Pluto rescuing the kitten was by far the most memorable scene. The story while somewhat obvious has much cuteness and charm with a great, subtly used message and don't be prejudiced. It does use the angel vs. devil scenario but is one of the better and most interesting cases of it. Mickey is likable but plays second fiddle to Pluto, one of those characters who looks and acts like a dog(which he is) but unlike Goofy, Mickey and Donald he doesn't act human which is part of his charm, as well as his ability of being telling in his facial expressions without saying a word. The kitten and the goldfish are very cute and the angel and devil are an amusing contrast with the devil all tough and the angel more shrill. Overall, cute and touching, well worth seeing. 9/10 Bethany Cox

MartinHafer LEND A PAW was the Oscar winner for Best Animated Short for 1942 and while I was not bowled over by its brilliance, this year a particularly distinguished one for animation. Looney Tunes was still a few years away from greatness as they still hadn't switched to the sillier and edgier films of Bugs Bunny. MGM had only made one or two Tom and Jerry cartoons and Tex Avery's best with this studio was still a few years away. So, for the 1941-42 era, LEND A PAW was probably as good as any cartoon. The quality of the nominees would skyrocket in just the next year or two.The film begins with Pluto finding a sack with a baby kitten in it that had been thrown in the river! When Pluto realizes it's a kitten, he's rather sad to have done this good deed by rescuing the little kitten! Talk about a dark cartoon premise!! Well, the nice kitten follows Pluto home and Mickey decides to keep it. However, Pluto isn't happy about this and wants to get rid of the thing! The old cliché of an angel and a devil that appear and tell him what to do--and at least for a while the devil has his sway. Eventually, however, by the end, Pluto has done the right thing and everyone lives happily ever after--which is exactly what you'd expect from a Disney short.No major surprises but an exceptionally well animated and enjoyable short film.

Ron Oliver A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.Pluto must LEND A PAW to save the life of a drowning kitten - but is disgusted when Mickey welcomes the tiny feline into their home.There's much to enjoy in this Oscar-winning little film, with pathos, suspense & good humor all wrapped-up into one tidy package. The use of the Angel-Pluto & Devil-Pluto to express the Pup's thoughts is an amusing conceit. This was the second of only two appearances in a Disney cartoon made by Bianca the Goldfish, the other being MICKEY'S PARROT (1938).Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Robert Reynolds This Oscar winner is a rather sweet, gentle, charming cartoon that, from another studio, probably would not have won the Oscar. While it's a good cartoon, it certainly isn't my choice (of those I've seen, I prefer Rhapsody in Rivets myself). This is the best one that prominently features Pluto and it cetainly does not make you scratch your head and wonder what they were thinking. A good, but by no means great, cartoon. Like most of the shorts (with some lamentable exceptions), this shows periodically on The Ink and Paint Club. Recommended.