“I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom.” – Amy Poehler as Mrs. George in Mean Girls.
This could apply to all moms. For all they do and sacrifice and how they support us, they are cool. While we celebrate them all year, it’s still nice to have one Sunday in May – Mother’s Day – devoted to them.
Several years ago, I compiled a post on cartoons that centered on Mothers and in honor of Mother’s Day, here is Part II to provide another “short” tribute to Mom.
Mother Pluto – Disney, 1936
In this “Silly Symphony,” directed by Wilfred Jackson, Pluto learns a lesson about the challenges and rewards of being a mother.
Set in a barnyard, the short opens with a mother hen using Pluto’s doghouse as her nest, hiding the eggs there. She leaves to chase a butterfly, and when Pluto returns, he lays down on the straw, only to find all of the chicks hatching underneath him.
The chicks bond to Pluto as their mother, but he initially wants nothing to do with them and tries to leave, but the chicks follow. After the chicks chase a grasshopper and one of them is upset at not catching it, Pluto feels bad, and he warms up to the one chick and soon, all of them, allowing the chickens to sit, chirp, and hop around him.
The mother hen returns to the doghouse and, upset at her chicks not being there, sets out to find them. She finds them with Pluto and fights to get her chicks back.
Losing the battle, Pluto slinks back to his empty doghouse, where he remembers how nice his time with the chicks was, and a tear rolls down his muzzle. As he does, the chicks come into the doghouse, visiting him and ending the short on a happy note.
With animation by many Disney Legends – such as Norm Ferguson and Clyde Geronimi – it’s no surprise that Pluto has a great personality on display here, particularly as he bonds with the chicks and then near the conclusion when he becomes emotional.
Mother Pluto isn’t just an example of the charm of many of Disney’s “Silly Symphony,” series but with Pluto’s warm connection and the hen’s forceful fighting it also underlines the bond between a mother and her children.
One Mother’s Family – MGM, 1939
This is a sweet, lushly animated “Rudolph Ising Production.” The short story centers on a mother hen taking her brood of chicks out for a walk for the day, and the farmer warns her to beware of the hawk.
While walking, the mother must keep the chicks safe from cars as they zoom by and cross the road. She also has to constantly watch for an inquisitive member of her children, who is always wandering off (including one harrowing experience where the chick hides in a tire track as a car passes by overhead).
They also try to catch a caterpillar and are eventually chased by the hawk. They all escape safely, but not before the curious little chick has a rather odorous interaction with a skunk, as the short concludes.
Except for the farmer, there’s no dialogue in One Mother’s Family, leaving room for plenty of personality animation to come through, particularly between the Mother and her troublesome chick. The story also plays out against lovely backgrounds, courtesy of Joseph Smith.
Through the pantomime and sight gags, the short also, and very nicely, underlines a mother’s strength and the lengths she will go to protect her family.
Quackodile Tears – Warner Bros., 1962
From the latter days of the Warner Bros. shorts comes this Daffy Duck cartoon, where his wife orders him to sit on their nest to help their egg hatch. Daffy adjusts the nest, and when he does so, the egg rolls down toward the water and in with a group of alligator eggs.
As they all the eggs look alike, Daffy randomly picks one and infuriates the Alligator, who attempts to get the egg back. What follows in the short is a series of back-and-forth gags, where the Alligator steals the egg, and Daffy tries to steal it back.
It concludes with the egg hatching and a baby alligator emerging (who proceeds to gnaw away at Daffy’s leg). Daffy’s wife insists, “He’s just an ugly duckling, and someday he will be a beautiful swan.” As the cartoon ends, we see a family of alligators swimming through the water, with a little black duck taking up the rear. The mother crocodile tells the father, “He’s just an ugly duckling; someday he’ll be a beautiful alligator.” (Why not a crocodile, as that’s somewhat in the title? Well, who knows?).
Directed by Art Davis, Quackodile Tears has a nice, stylized look of the era, and, as Daffy learns a lesson in how difficult being a mom is, there are some well-played gags (including one where his wife, literally, slaps his face off).
And, as always, it’s so comforting to hear the voices of legends Mel Blanc and June Foray in a Warner Bros. cartoon.
The Mother of all Problems – Universal, 2018
This newer Woody Woodpecker short moves at a breakneck pace and doesn’t paint the best image of a mother and child relationship, but it does offer sharp, creative humor.
Mother’s Day is approaching, and when Woody’s girlfriend Winnie tells him, he realizes that his Mom is coming for a visit. Woody, who doesn’t have a great relationship with his Mom, realizes that he must keep her from meeting Winnie, as Mom will reveal all of the embarrassing details of his childhood.
When Mom (the voice of Candi Milo) arrives (referring to her son as “Woodums”), Woody (Eric Bauza) does everything to hide her from Winnie (Tara Strong), including tossing Mom into a Murphy bed and a washing machine. When he can hide her no longer, Winnie and Mom meet and immediately hit it off.
Directed by Mike Milo, The Mother of All Problems contains well-staged, fast-paced animation and sharp dialogue. “Never mix white socks and colored shirts together. You’re better than that,” says Woody’s Mom as she does the laundry. “I don’t know where you’re getting all this laundry from, Mom,” replies Woody “I don’t even wear clothes.”
Despite all of this, even after a gag that involves him getting smashed by a log at the end of the short, Woody can’t help but declare what we all know, leaving Woody to say and realize at the end, “Why are moms always right?”
Just four of the many cartoon shorts that celebrate Mothers – each and every one of them, The Cool Mom.
Happy Mother’s Day!
