Little Beau Porky: Why the camel scrubbing is the best part

Is this worth your time?

If you have seven minutes and a soft spot for the rubbery, slightly unhinged animation of the 1930s, then yeah, go for it. It’s perfect for people who like their slapstick loud and their villains extremely incompetent. If you’re looking for a coherent military strategy, you’re in the wrong place.

The whole thing is basically Porky being told he’s too useless to fight, which is a bit harsh. Watching him try to scrub a camel is one of those classic visual gags that just works, even if you feel bad for the animal.

The pacing is fast, maybe a little too fast. It feels like the animators were just throwing ideas at the wall to see what would stick. Some of it lands, some of it just feels like frantic noise.

The Ali Mode problem

Ali Mode is a cartoon villain in the purest sense. He spends half the movie trying to break into a fort that looks like it’s made of cardboard. His attempts to tunnel underneath are genuinely funny, mostly because he looks so tired of the whole process.

It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy you see in The Phantom of the Opera, but with way less gothic atmosphere and way more pig noises. The stakes are non-existent, but that’s kind of the charm.

Odd little details

• Porky’s voice is so high-pitched here, it’s like he’s inhaling helium between every line.
• The "Cairo Syrup" vat looks remarkably like a vat of boiling oil, which is a pretty dark way to win a war.
• The camels look like they’re judging Porky. They really do.

There’s a moment where Ali Mode tries to trick Porky that goes on for a beat too long. You can almost see the animator struggling to figure out how to transition to the next gag. It’s clumsy, but I kind of liked the awkwardness of it.

It’s not trying to be The Scarlet Drop or anything that takes itself remotely seriously. It’s just a pig, a villain, and a bunch of desert nonsense. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need on a Tuesday afternoon. 🐪

Honestly, the medals at the end feel totally unearned, but that’s the point, right? Porky survives by sheer dumb luck, and that’s a hero's journey I can get behind.