Crazy Mixed Up Pup
Crazy Mixed Up Pup
| 14 February 1955 (USA)
Crazy Mixed Up Pup Trailers

While out grocery shopping, meek, middle-aged Samuel Smith and family pet Rover are run over by a speeding car. Fortunately for them, an ambulance shows up right away. Unfortunately for them, the ambulance attendant mistakenly treats Sam with dog plasma and Rover with human plasma. Both immediately recover - after which Sam starts erupting into bouts of dog-like behavior and Rover begins walking and talking like a human being, much to the consternation of the people around them, especially Sam's wife, Margaret.

Reviews
Robert McElwaine

Crazy Mixed Up Pup is a-typical of the sublimely surreal nature of the animated shorts of director Tex Avery. Oddly it's not quite as well known of his other works which is a shame because it's premise although simple is still wonderfully ingenious and totally off the wall. A married dog owner takes his pet pooch out for a walk, only for the two of them to be run over while crossing the street. The cross eyed paramedic who rushes to the scene mixes up the the blood to give them the necessary blood transfusion, the result being that the man begins behaving like his dog and vice versa. The term Man Bites dog never became more literal as ensuing events unfold.It's a conceit that is brilliantly utilised as his bemused wife and anyone else who comes in to contact with them struggle to cope with their bizarre behaviour. For a six minute short it manages to cram in just enough jokes and crazy visual humour that by the time it's over, you can't help but want to watch it again. One moment where the dog just out of nowhere begins to dance in front of the freaked out wife is so random that you can't help but chuckling at the insanity of it. It all leads to an equally wacky pay off which rounds everything up quite nicely. If there is a flaw however its that while not dreadful the animation Isn't quite up to the higher standard of some of Avery's earlier shorts. However it's a quibble I'm willing to mainly forgive as it's a testament to his genius that nearly 60 years later it still stands the test of time. Not one to miss if you get the chance to see it.

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Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"Crazy Mixed Up Pup" is a 6-minute cartoon from roughly 60 years ago and was written and directed by cartoon legend Tex Avery, possibly the most famous cartoon director of its era that did not work for Disney or Warner Bros. on a regular basis. This little film was Oscar-nominated (one of many nominations for Walter Lantz), but lost to the newest "Mr. Magoo" cartoon. Even if this is not among Avery's most famous works and has no Droopy the Dog in it, it still may very well be my favorite work of his. There is nothing too memorable about the animation. It's okay for the 1950s, nothing more, nothing less, but the cartoon is filled with really funny jokes from start to finish. It is all based on the idea of a man and a dog having an accident and the med accidentally giving the two the blood plasma that was intended for the other. When the duo returns home, chaos evolves. It's never repetitive, although it easily could have been, and the ending is exactly what I had hoped would happen. It's not only feel-good, but very smart and very funny. Great cartoon. One of the 1950s finest, especially if you count mostly unknown ones. Highly recommended.

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MARIO GAUCI

From its title, I wasn't aware that I had watched this one before – which, despite being a latter-day Avery effort, is every bit a classic cartoon. Again, the premise is simple yet totally insane: a man and his dog are trampled by a car while crossing the road; a cross-eyed male nurse mistakenly applies the wrong kind of plasma to each, with the result that the man takes on the habits of the dog and vice versa. Of course, this sends the wife (and the dog's own 'spouse') up the wall – even if both intermittently revert to their natural states and, obviously, think that it's their respective mates who are nuts! Predictably, then, the ending sees the wife and her pet getting the exact same affliction after being run over themselves by a car – and subsequently revived by the same eager but clueless medical attendant! And they all lived happily ever after

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Robert Reynolds

This short, nominated for an Oscar, is pretty typical of Avery, with one small difference-where he typically started with a rather mundane normal situation and then twisted it in insane ways, here he starts with an absurdity (the infusion of dog plasma into a man and vice versa) and THEN twists it in insane ways! A hilariously funny cartoon and the ending is perfect. Highly Recommended.

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