The Moose Hunt is actually kind of chaotic and weird

You should definitely watch this if you have a few minutes and want to see Mickey Mouse look like a total amateur. 🌲 It is perfect for anyone who likes the old 'rubber hose' style of animation where characters move like they don't have bones. If you are looking for a deep story with a lesson, you will probably hate it because it is just pure chaos.

Mickey takes Pluto into the woods to hunt moose. It feels a bit weird seeing Mickey with a shotgun, to be honest. 🔫

The whole thing starts with Pluto being a bit too helpful. He finds a branch that is shaped exactly like moose antlers.

Mickey sees it and just starts firing. He thinks he’s a big hero until he realizes he just murdered a stick.

The look on Mickey's face when he sees the branch is actually really funny. He looks so embarrassed, like he hopes nobody saw him do that.

It’s a lot different from the vibe in something like The Plow Girl. That one feels more like a story, whereas this is just one gag after another.

Then the real moose shows up. And let me tell you, this moose is huge compared to Mickey.

It doesn't look like a cute Disney animal. It looks like a monster that really wants to stomp someone into the dirt.

Mickey tries to shoot it, but his gun just falls apart. It’s like the gun itself decided it didn't want any part of this fight.

The sound the gun makes when it breaks is this tiny, hollow clicking noise. It makes Mickey look even more helpless than he already is. 🏚️

I noticed that the background trees just kind of loop over and over. It’s a bit distracting if you look at it too closely, but it fits the rhythm.

There is a moment where Pluto gets scared and his legs go all wobbly. 🐕 It’s one of those bits where you can tell the animators were just having fun with how much they could stretch the characters.

The escape is where things get really weird. Pluto starts flapping his ears to fly away like he's doing an impression of Dumbo.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Moose Hunt (1931) through its definitive frames.

It’s strange because Dumbo wasn't even a movie yet when this came out. Maybe the people at Disney were already thinking about flying animals way back then? 🐘

Mickey just hops on Pluto's back and they zoom out of there. The moose looks so confused standing there in the clearing.

I kind of felt bad for the moose. He was just minding his own business and then this mouse shows up and starts causing a scene.

The animation on the moose's legs is really spindly. It looks like they might snap at any second, but he runs really fast.

Compared to other shorts from that time, like Don't Shoot, the movement here feels much more fluid and bouncy.

Mickey’s voice is very high and squeaky here, even for him. He sounds genuinely terrified when the moose starts chasing him.

There is a lot of silence in some parts where you just hear the thumping of footsteps. It makes the chase feel a bit more intense than you’d expect for a cartoon. 🦌

I like that the movie doesn't try to be anything more than a silly chase. It knows what it is and it doesn't apologize for it.

The ending is very abrupt. They just fly away and that’s basically it. No big wrap-up or anything.

It feels like someone just stopped drawing and said, "Yeah, that's enough for today." ✍️

If you're in the mood for something light that doesn't make much sense, give it a go. It's a weird little piece of history.

Just don't expect Mickey to actually be good at hunting. He's much better at dancing and playing the piano.

I also kept thinking about An Eyeful while watching the forest scenes. The way the shadows are drawn is sort of similar in a way I can't quite explain.

Overall, it’s just a fun, messy short. It’s got that raw energy that the later, more polished Disney stuff sometimes loses.