Ub Iwerks' Ali Baba (1936) is weird, bouncy, and over in eight minutes

If you have eight minutes to spare and love weird old cartoons, this is absolutely worth a quick watch. Animation nerds will love the rubbery style, but anyone looking for a deep story will probably get bored fast.

It is Ub Iwerks' take on the classic tale, and boy, it is bouncy.

The whole thing starts with Ali Baba and his son living in total poverty. Then they see the Forty Thieves go into their secret cave.

The cave door is this giant rock that opens with a sound like a scraping shovel. It is so loud in the audio mix it actually made me jump a bit.

Once the thieves leave, Ali and his kid go inside to grab the loot. The treasure is just piles of yellow circles, which is pretty funny.

But the thieves come back way too fast, and the two have to hide in these giant clay jars.

I love how the horses in this movie move. They do not run like real horses; they sort of stretch and squish like they are made of purple jelly. 🐴

There is also this one shot of a thief with a giant sword that goes on for way too long. He just stands there waving it at the camera.

It reminded me of the silly, cheap energy you find in Buried Treasure, though this one is obviously much cleaner.

The audio is pretty crackly, which is expected for 1936. Sometimes the music drowns out the characters talking, but honestly, you do not need to hear the words to get what is happening.

The kid character is a bit annoying though. His voice is incredibly high-pitched and he keeps making these weird little squeaking noises when he is scared.

My favorite part is when the thieves finally find them. The way they pull Ali Baba out of the jar looks so physically impossible, even for a cartoon.

The ending feels very rushed, like they realized they were running out of paper. It just sort of wraps up in ten seconds flat.

Still, its a neat little time capsule. You can find it easily online, and it is a fun piece of animation history to gawk at while eating lunch.