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6.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Chess-Nuts remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like your cartoons with a side of surrealism and rubber-hose limbs, sure. It’s short, it’s loud, and it makes absolutely no sense. If you’re the type of person who needs a logical narrative, stay away. This is pure, unadulterated nonsense. ♟️
The whole thing feels like the animators just kept coming up with new ways to make inanimate objects do a jig. Betty Boop is, of course, the Queen. She’s got that signature look, but watching her navigate a board where the floor literally folds up like a napkin is something else.
Bimbo is the White King, which sounds important, but he mostly just runs around looking nervous. There’s this one bit where the chess pieces start attacking each other, and the physics just… give up. It’s great.
I caught myself staring at a background detail—a knight piece with a face that looked suspiciously like a disgruntled landlord. Why did they draw it like that? Who knows. It’s just there, existing in this weird void.
It’s not quite as experimental as Glumov's Diary, but it shares that same frantic energy. The animation has that jerky, twitchy quality that makes you wonder how much coffee the artists were drinking in the thirties.
There’s a moment where a castle wall just decides to become a pair of legs. It’s not a transition; it’s just a reality shift. You don't get that kind of disregard for physical laws in modern CGI stuff. Everything today is too clean, too polished. Chess-Nuts is messy, and I really respect that.
Honestly, the ending doesn't really land, but did it ever have to? It’s just a cartoon. It hits, it dances, and it leaves. I think I’ll rewatch it again tomorrow just to see if I missed any more faces hidden in the background scenery. 🃏