The Soup Song Review: A weird, bouncy fever dream about a frog in a kitchen

You should probably watch this if you have seven minutes and like things that feel a little bit unhinged. It is a great pick for anyone who loves that old 'rubber-hose' style where bones don't seem to exist. If you hate cartoons that are just noise and bouncing shapes, you will definitely find this annoying. 🐸

It is 1931 and Ub Iwerks is out here trying to prove he didn't need Disney. This short, The Soup Song, is basically a music video about a restuarant that would definitely fail a health inspection.

Flip the Frog is the main guy and he is working his butt off. He is making soup, but he's also playing the piano. I don't know how he finds the time to do both, but he does it with a lot of energy.

The kitchen is alive. Literally. Everything in the room is bouncing to the beat of the music.

There is this one bit with an onion that I actually found pretty funny. Flip starts slicing it and the onion starts crying, which makes Flip cry. It is a simple gag, but it works because of how dramatic the frog gets.

The animation is a bit rough around the edges. You can tell they were working fast. It doesn't have the polish of something like Mickey's Merry Men, but it has more grit.

The soup itself looks like actual sludge. I am not even sure what is in it. At one point, a fly gets involved, and the way Flip tries to deal with it is just pure chaos.

There is a big bulldog-looking guy who is the boss. He is scary in that way only 1930s cartoon villains can be. He has these tiny eyes and a huge mouth that seems like it could swallow the whole screen.

I noticed that the sound is really loud. Like, every single movement has a clink or a boing. It is a bit much if you have a headache.

The band is great, though. There is a mouse playing a flute, but he is actually inside the flute? Or maybe he is the flute? I couldn't really tell.

It kind of reminds me of the cramped, noisy feeling you get in The Big House, but obviously much sillier. 🥣

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

One reaction shot of the boss lingers just a second too long. It starts to feel like he is staring directly at you through the screen. It is slightly creepy.

The way the characters move is so fluid it is almost distracting. They look like they are made of jelly.

There is no real plot here. Flip makes soup. Flip plays music. A customer gets mad. That's pretty much the whole thing.

But that is okay! Sometimes you just want to see a frog get bullied by a fly while a stove dances in the background.

The ending is kind of abrupt. It just... stops. No real big finale, just a quick gag and then the black screen.

I liked the part where Flip uses his tongue to catch things. It is one of the few times he actually acts like a real frog. Most of the time he just acts like a small man in a green suit.

It is definitely better than Too Many Mammas if you are looking for pure visual weirdness.

The music is catchy. I have had the main tune stuck in my head for about an hour now. It is a bit of a curse.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a weird little artifact from a time when cartoons were still figuring themselves out? Absolutely.

Go watch it if you want to see what happens when a kitchen goes completely insane. Just don't expect to be hungry for soup afterwards. 🥘

Wait, did you see that?

• The way the plates walk themselves to the table.
• That one weirdly detailed shot of the fly's face.
• Flip's piano playing is actually really aggressive.
• The stove seems to be enjoying the music more than the customers.

Overall, it is a fun, messy time. I think Ub Iwerks was just having a blast making things move in ways they shouldn't.

It is not perfect, and some of the gags are repeated too much, but it has heart. Or at least it has a lot of bounce.