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4.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Kentucky Belles remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have ten minutes and a high tolerance for early animation chaos, Kentucky Belles is worth a look. People who dig the frantic energy of 1920s cartoons will probably get a kick out of it. If you need a coherent story or realistic physics, you should probably skip this one entirely.
Oswald is basically trying to win a race just to smooch a girl. It is simple, sure, but these early shorts aren't really about the plot. They are about how many times you can make a horse stretch like a rubber band before the audience gets dizzy. 🐎
The pacing is absolutely unhinged. One second we are at the starting line, and the next, Oswald is fighting with his own horse. I’m not even sure if the horse was helping or just actively sabotaging the whole thing.
There is a moment where the scenery just gives up on being realistic. It’s that classic rubber-hose animation style where limbs turn into spaghetti. It’s strange, and honestly, it’s a bit hypnotic. You can tell the team, including Tex Avery, was just throwing ideas at the wall to see what stuck.
I couldn't help but think about how much more polished The 'High Sign' felt by comparison. This one feels a lot looser, maybe even a bit rushed. Not that being rushed is always a bad thing in animation, but sometimes it just feels like a mess of limbs.
The humor is very physical. If you like watching characters get flattened like pancakes or stretched into impossible shapes, you're in the right place. It reminds me of the manic energy found in Anything Once!, just with more horses and fewer gadgets.
It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a neat little time capsule. Sometimes a cartoon doesn't need to be more than a rabbit running fast and failing upwards. I think I liked it more for its flaws than its actual successes. 🥕