Pudgy needs to learn about boundaries (Making Friends review)

If you have seven minutes to spare today and love old-school, slightly trippy animation, Making Friends is absolutely worth a quick watch. Anyone who loves cute dogs or vintage Fleischer Studios chaos will dig it, but if you can't stand high-pitched baby voices, you should probably steer clear. 🐶

Betty Boop is barely even in this one, honestly. She just sings a quick song at the start to tell her dog, Pudgy, to go outside and make some friends.

The song is called "Go Out and Make Friends With the World," and it is incredibly catchy in that annoying way that gets stuck in your head for days. I have been humming it for three hours now and I want to stop.

So Pudgy, who is this incredibly round, bouncy little white puppy, trots out into the woods. He is just vibrating with excitement.

But the local wildlife is not having it. They basically treat him like a giant nuisance.

First, he tries to play with a little worm. The worm basically gives him the cold shoulder and zips into the dirt, which is honestly a mood.

Then he goes after a squirrel. This squirrel doesn't just run away—it actively starts throwing acorns at Pudgy's head.

It feels surprisingly violent for a kids' cartoon, but that is classic 1930s animation for you. 🐿️

I love how the Fleischer brothers animated movement back then. Everything bounces to the beat of the music, even the trees and the dirt mounds.

It has that rubbery, liquid physics where bones don't seem to exist. It reminds me a bit of the weird, dreamlike vibes in Circus Time, though that one is a bit more chaotic.

Anyway, Pudgy keeps trying. He meets a beaver who just splashes mud all over his face.

You can really feel Pudgy's disappointment here; his little tail stops wagging and just droops. The animators were so good at making this tiny clump of ink look genuinely heartbroken.

Then there is a frog. The frog does this weird slide into the pond that looks like it broke its own hips, and then a crow literally puts its wings on its hips and laughs at Pudgy.

It is deeply insulting. Poor puppy just wants a hug.

Then things get actually dangerous. Pudgy finds a baby bear and thinks, "Aha! A friend my size!"

But of course, the giant mama bear is right behind him. The mama bear looks genuinely terrifying, with these giant black claws and a red mouth.

Suddenly, this cute little short feels like a horror movie for about thirty seconds. The music gets all dark and heavy.

Betty shows up just in time, though. She doesn't even look scared of the bear; she just uses some weird cartoon logic to save the day.

Actually, her reaction to the giant predator is so casual it made me laugh out loud. It is like she deals with grizzly bears in her front yard every Tuesday.

I noticed that the background paintings in this short are super detailed compared to the characters. The trees have this dusty, charcoal texture that looks really beautiful.

It is a weird contrast with the super simple, rubbery look of Pudgy. It almost looks like two different cartoons pasted together.

If you want something deeper, maybe check out Wild or something like Daybreak, because this cartoon is strictly light-hearted fluff. But sometimes fluff is exactly what you need.

It's just a shame Betty didn't teach Pudgy about basic animal safety before sending him into the wilderness. Seriously, that dog has zero survival instincts.

Still, it's hard not to smile when he finally gets a win at the very end. Even if he had to almost get eaten by a grizzly to get there.