Willie Whopper and the shrinking mess

Is this for you?

If you have a soft spot for 1930s rubber-hose animation, you’ll probably get a kick out of Reducing Creme. It’s weird, fast, and plays by its own nonsense physics. If you need a plot that makes sense or characters that behave like real people, well, you’re looking at the wrong shelf. This is strictly for the folks who want to see a cartoon cat get his comeuppance in the most petty way imaginable.

Ub Iwerks was always doing his own thing while everyone else was chasing Disney’s tail. This short is a perfect example of that frantic, slightly unhinged energy. Willie Whopper starts off looking like a regular guy until the creme hits him. Suddenly, he’s mouse-sized and the cat looks like a literal Godzilla of the living room.

The pacing here is just relentless. There isn't a second to breathe because the cat is constantly snapping its jaws inches away from Willie’s head. It feels less like a narrative and more like an endurance test. Honestly, the way the house furniture shifts around to accommodate the perspective change is a nice touch, even if it looks a bit flat.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Reducing Creme (1934) through its definitive frames.

The highlight—if you can call it that—is the ending. Willie doesn't just learn a lesson or run away. He goes straight for revenge. Covering the cat in the same goo is such a cold-blooded move for a cartoon character. Watching the cat shrink down and then immediately get clocked by the mouse he was just terrorizing? That’s some dark stuff for a Sunday morning cartoon.

It’s not as polished as something like Dizzy Red Riding-Hood, but it has this raw, scratchy quality that I really dig. You can practically see the pencil marks if you squint hard enough. It reminds me of the vibe in An Animated Hair Cartoon: No. 18 where everything just feels a little bit... *wrong* in a fun way.

• That cat has the most smug face I’ve ever seen in animation.
• The sound effects when Willie is running are genuinely stressful.
• The perspective shots of the staircase are surprisingly good for the time.
• The ending is basically a tiny-scale slapfight.

It’s short, punchy, and a little bit mean. Sometimes that’s all you need on a rainy afternoon. Just don’t ask me where he got the creme in the first place, because the movie definitely isn't telling.