Buddy Steps Out: A Bizarre Trip Off the Wall

Should you watch Buddy Steps Out? If you have ten minutes and a taste for the uncanny, then yeah, go for it. If you prefer your animation to make logical sense or follow the laws of physics, stay far away. This is pure, unadulterated whimsy that borders on the unsettling.

Buddy and Cookie just sort of decide to climb out of their frames. No explanation. No grand reason. They just step out into the room like it’s a Tuesday morning commute. It feels remarkably like the surreal energy you find in Kids and Kidlets, where the logic is thin but the movement is surprisingly fluid.

The whole mission is to save a little bird. It’s sweet, I guess, but there’s something slightly creepy about watching paper-flat people interact with a three-dimensional world. Tommy Bond and Bernice Hansen provide voices that feel like they’re coming from a different dimension entirely.

Odd moments that stuck with me:

• The way the frames hang on the wall—they look like they’re judging the rest of the house.
• The bird’s chirping sounds more like a mechanical error than a living creature.
• The lighting in the room shifts for no reason, like the sun has a split personality.

It’s not trying to be a deep, meaningful piece of cinema. It’s just a cartoon doing cartoon things. Sometimes I think we overthink these old shorts, looking for some secret meaning. Maybe it’s just about a bird. Maybe it’s about the crushing boredom of being stuck in a frame for eternity.

It’s honestly less stressful than watching something heavy like Cross Fire. If you want something that doesn't demand you think, this is your ticket. It is imperfect, glitchy, and honestly kind of a mess.

I found myself staring at the background textures more than the actual plot. Why is that wallpaper so aggressive? It’s distracting. But I liked it. 🦜✨