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7.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 7.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Twenty Legs Under the Sea remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like old stuff that feels like a fever dream, then yes.
You should watch this if you’re into the history of animation or just want to see what people thought was funny a hundred years ago. 🎞️
You will probably hate it if you need a plot or characters that don't look like they are made of vibrating rubber.
I found this while digging through old archives and honestly, it’s better than some of the live-action stuff from the same year.
It’s got that specific Dave Fleischer energy where everything is constantly moving for no reason.
The first thing you notice is that the water doesn't look like water. It’s just a bunch of shaky lines that make your eyes feel a bit itchy.
There is a scene with an octopus that has, well, a lot of legs. I didn't count twenty, but it felt like a lot. 🐙
The way the octopus moves is actually kind of creepy. It’s got these bendy arms that seem to grow and shrink whenever the animator felt like it.
One specific moment that got me was a fish wearing a hat. Why is the fish wearing a hat? Nobody knows.
It just swims by like it's totally normal. I love that about these old cartoons. They don't explain anything.
It reminds me a bit of the random energy in Going Wild, even though that’s a totally different kind of movie.
Willard Bowsky was one of the guys working on this, and you can tell he was having fun. The lines are thick and heavy.
Sometimes the characters just melt into the background. It’s not a mistake, it’s just how they did things back then.
The pacing is fast. Like, really fast. One gag happens, and then boom, the next one is hitting you before you can even process the first one.
I noticed a small detail in the corner of the screen during the shipwreck scene. There’s a little crab just dancing by itself.
It has nothing to do with the main action. It’s just there because someone thought it looked cool to draw a dancing crab. 🦀
I wish modern movies had that much random stuff in the corners. It makes the world feel messy in a good way.
Watching this is a huge 180 from something heavy like The Big House. It’s light and airy and totally pointless in the best way.
It’s even weirder than Too Many Mammas, which is saying something because that movie is already pretty out there.
I did find myself wondering if the animators had ever actually seen the ocean. Most of the fish look like sausages with fins attached.
There is a bit of a scary moment with a shark that has human-looking teeth. It’s definitely nightmare fuel for kids from the 20s.
The whole thing feels like a warm-up for what the Fleischer brothers would do later with Popeye and Betty Boop.
You can see the seeds of that rubbery movement style being planted here.
I actually enjoyed this more than Ship Ahoy, mostly because it doesn't try to be a real movie. It knows it’s just a silly drawing.
The ending is very abrupt. It just kind of... stops. Like the animator ran out of paper or just got tired of drawing bubbles.
It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a cool little artifact. 🏺
If you're looking for something to put on in the background while you do something else, this is perfect. Or if you just want to stare at something trippy for five minutes.
I'm glad these old shorts are still around. Even if they are kind of janky and the film quality is falling apart.
Anyway, go watch it if you want to see a crab do a jig. It’s worth it for that alone.
IMDb 5.5
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