Cubby's World Flight: A Bear, A Plane, and A Whole Lot of Nonsense

Is it worth the watch?

Look, if you’re into the weird, jittery animation of the 1920s where logic takes a vacation, you’ll probably find Cubby's World Flight charming in a dusty, attic-find kind of way. If you need a coherent story or characters that don't look like they’re vibrating out of their own skins, skip it. It’s for the curious, the bored, and people who like seeing animals do things they definitely shouldn't be doing.

The whole premise is just a bear in a plane. There’s no big emotional stakes, no villain monologue, just Cubby trying to make it across the ocean. It reminds me a bit of the frantic, nonsensical energy in Day Dreams, where things just happen because the animator felt like drawing them that way.

Oddly Specific Observations

• The way the plane engine sputters sounds less like a machine and more like a guy hitting a radiator with a wrench.
• There is a moment where the clouds look suspiciously like giant cotton balls that got stuck to the film strip.
• Why is there a tuxedo-wearing walrus in the background of the takeoff scene? I still don't know.

The pacing is honestly all over the place. One minute he’s crossing the Atlantic, and the next he’s basically in China because the background changed color twice. It feels like someone edited the film with a pair of rusty scissors. It’s not good, but it’s definitely not boring.

There’s this weird, frantic joy in the way Cubby interacts with the controls. He pulls levers like he’s trying to start a lawnmower, not pilot a trans-Pacific flight. It feels very similar to the slapstick chaos found in Circus Clowns, just with more altitude.

Don't expect the technical wizardry of The Rocket Bus. This is backyard, DIY animation at its most unpolished. Sometimes the ink lines seem to just melt off the page. It adds to the feeling that you’re watching something that was barely holding together when it was made, let alone today. 🐻✈️

If you've seen enough of these, you know the drill. The humor is 90% physical gags that either land perfectly or fall completely flat. Cubby isn't exactly a master of comedy, but he's got heart, I guess? Or maybe he just really wants to get to China. I’m still not sure which.