Little Orphan Willie review: Flip the Frog's very stressful day

You should watch this if you have six minutes to kill and you like looking at how weird animation used to be. If you hate scratchy audio or cartoons where nothing actually happens, give it a miss.

Flip the Frog finds a baby on his porch. That is the whole thing.

The baby is loud. And honestly, a bit of a brat.

It starts with Flip hearing a cry and finding a basket. He brings it inside and the chaos just starts immediately.

The animation has that shaky, breathing quality from the early 30s. Every wall and chair looks like it is made of Jell-O.

I noticed the baby looks like a tiny, middle-aged man. It is a bit creepy if you look too close.

There is a scene where Flip tries to feed the kid. It goes on a bit long, but the way the milk bottle stretches is pretty cool.

Ub Iwerks was clearly having fun with the physics here. Or the lack of physics, I guess.

The baby eventually finds a cigar. Yes, a cigar.

Pre-code cartoons really did not care about what was appropriate for kids. It reminds me of the weird domestic vibes in Is Marriage the Bunk? but with more jumping around.

The music is very repetitive. It is just a bouncy piano track that loops and loops.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Little Orphan Willie (1930) through its definitive frames.

I found myself staring at the background more than the characters. The picture frames on the wall keep moving for no reason.

It is not exactly a masterpiece like some of the stuff Iwerks did with Disney. But it has a charm because it feels so unpolished.

Flip is a weird character because he feels so plain. He is just a guy trying to survive the situation.

There is no real plot transition. It is just one gag after another until the film ends.

The ending is super abrupt. Like they just ran out of paper or time and decided to stop filming.

It is definitely more lighthearted than something like The Guilty Man. Obviously.

I like how the baby uses a hammer at one point. Where did he even get a hammer?

If you have seen Wedding Bells, you know how these old comedies love a good chaotic house scene. This is just the animated version of that.

The sound effects are clunky and sometimes late. It adds to the feeling that this was made by people just trying things out.

It’s a nice little time capsule. 🐸

Don't expect to be blown away. Just enjoy the weirdness of a frog trying to be a dad.

Notes from the couch:

• The baby's cry sounds like a grown man screaming into a tin can.
• Flip's shoes are way too big for his feet.
• The cigar scene is still the highlight for how wrong it feels today.