Porky’s Poultry Plant: A total mess of feathers

Is it worth your time?

If you have a thing for black-and-white animation from a time when everything felt a little bit frantic, sure. It’s short, it’s loud, and it makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for more than three seconds.

People who hate old-school slapstick or cartoons that don't have a coherent plot will probably want to skip this one. It's not exactly high art.

So, Porky is just trying to mind his own business with his chickens and ducks. Then these hawks show up, and suddenly it’s a war zone. The whole premise is basically just "birds vs. a guy with a machine gun," which is a wild choice for a cartoon, honestly. 🐔

There’s this one part where they’re playing football with a chick, and I just kept thinking, why? It’s bizarre. It feels like someone just threw a bunch of ideas at a wall to see what would stick. It reminded me a bit of the chaotic energy in In the Devildog House, where things just escalate until you aren't sure why the characters are even still fighting.

Random thoughts from the couch:

• The sound effects are so aggressive. My ears hurt a little.
• Watching a guy try to shoot birds with a machine gun from a tiny plane is a level of absurdity I wasn't prepared for today.
• The buzzards are actually kind of jerks. Like, impressively mean for an animated bird.
• The animation gets real shaky during the dogfight sequences.

The whole thing feels like it was written in a single afternoon. There’s no buildup, just constant bickering and things getting hit with eggs. It’s not as interesting as something like Queen Kelly, obviously, but it’s got that weird, jerky rhythm that keeps you watching even when you’re bored.

Sometimes the movie tries to get serious about the farm, but then they just start pulling tail feathers again. It’s hard to care about the stakes when the chickens are basically background noise. I guess if you like watching bad guys get their comeuppance in the most over-the-top way possible, you’ll dig it. Otherwise, maybe just watch a real bird documentary. 🦅