4.9/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 4.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Go West, Big Boy remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you like animation that feels like it’s vibrating. If you’re the kind of person who needs a coherent plot or, you know, physics, stay far away. This is for people who miss the era of weird, low-budget Saturday morning scraps where the backgrounds move faster than the characters.
The whole premise is just an excuse to get a mouse on a train. There’s no real reason he’s going west, he just is. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in McFadden's Flats, but with more cheese and less structure.
The sheep in this short have these weird, dead eyes that are honestly a little bit spooky. Every time the girl mouse appears, the animation style shifts just enough to be distracting. It’s like the team swapped animators mid-frame and just decided not to mention it to anyone.
There’s a moment on the train where the mouse is dancing, and he moves in a way that feels… physically impossible, even for a cartoon. I had to rewind it three times just to see if I was losing my mind. Nope. Just bizarre choices.
It’s not trying to be The Bat Whispers, that’s for sure. It’s not trying to be anything other than a quick distraction. Sometimes that’s enough. Other times, it feels like it’s just filling space before a bigger feature.
I found myself wondering if the writers just got bored halfway through. The ending happens so fast it’s almost a joke. One second we’re in the middle of a sheep-related crisis, and the next, the screen just goes black. Poof. No ceremony. Just done.
It’s funny, I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse. It’s just… there. 🐭🚂