Nurse Maid review: Flip the Frog vs a very hungry baby

You should watch this if you have seven minutes to kill and like seeing old-school animation that feels slightly like a fever dream. If you hate cartoons where the physics make zero sense, stay away.

It starts with Flip just hanging out. A random mother just hands him her baby while she goes shopping. It is the most 1930s thing ever. Just give your kid to a passing frog. 🐸

Flip is actually pretty chill about it at first. Then the baby gets a hold of his coin. And of course, the kid eats it. The look on Flip's face is pure panic. I felt that in my soul.

The baby in this movie is kind of creepy. He has these giant, unblinking eyes. He looks like he’s seen things no infant should ever see.

The way the baby moves is so weird. He’s like a bag of jelly that can also climb things. At one point, Flip tries to shake the coin out of him. It’s dark if you think about it too much, but the animation makes it look like a dance.

There is this one scene with a stroller that just goes completely off the rails. It bounces down the street like it's made of rubber bands. I love how the background just loops forever.

I noticed the sound is a bit scratchy. The baby's cry sounds like a siren from a haunted ship. It’s not exactly a soothing noise. 🔊

Ub Iwerks was really leaning into the weirdness here. It doesn't have the polish of a Disney short from the same time. But it has more... grit? If a cartoon can have grit.

It reminded me a bit of the chaos in Start Something. Just things escalating because everyone is making bad choices.

There is a goat too. Why is there always a goat in these old cartoons? The goat just exists to cause problems. It’s a very reliable trope.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Nurse Maid (1932) through its definitive frames.

Flip tries to use a magnet to get the coin back. The baby just gets stuck to things. It’s the kind of gag that shouldn't be funny but it got me.

I like that Flip isn't a perfect hero. He’s mostly just annoyed and wants his money back. He’s a relatable little guy.

The ending happens so fast you might blink and miss it. These shorts never really have a 'moral.' They just stop once they run out of gags.

One thing that bothered me was the mother's reaction at the end. She’s just... there. Like she didn't just leave her child with a stranger for an hour. People were built different back then.

It’s a bit like Ko-Ko Chops Suey in how the logic of the world just bends to fit the joke. If the baby needs to be ten feet tall for a second, he just is.

The background art is actually pretty nice if you look past the characters. The little houses look cozy. Too bad the kid is probably going to wreck them.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it better than watching a commercial? Absolutely.

I watched it twice just to see the baby's face when he swallows the coin again. It’s such a strange drawing. His mouth stretches like a garage door.

The whole thing feels like it was drawn by someone who hadn't slept in three days. I mean that as a compliment. It has a high energy that you don't see in modern stuff.

Anyway, it’s short. It’s weird. The frog is stressed. That’s the whole movie. 🍼