"The Worm Turns" is an American cartoon from 1937, so this one had its 80th anniversary last year already. The director is 2-time Academy Award winner Ben Sharpsteen, then not yet an Oscar winner though, and don't worry if this name doesn't say too much to you, but if you read the names of Colvig, Bletcher and eventually Disney, then you will certainly know that what we have here is another Disney cartoon. This one's in color and runs for slightly under 8 minutes and it features Micky and finally Pluto too at the center of it. Seeing Mickey as a slightly mad perhaps scientist was a bit unusual for sure but as his potion works he is a bit of a genius. You could divide this short film in several very short films I guess depending on who takes the David and Goliath path in these segments before the next segment starts and usually we see some Mickey in these intermissions. Nonetheless, it did never feel really funny and the wit is also hurt by this one having a bit of a repetitive tendency fairly quickly. The hydrant ending was nothing special either. Looks-wise, it is of course once more top-notch for its time, but that is almost the only positive thing I can say here. This one does not really need to be seen and there is a lot of better cartoon material from that time. Watch one of the others instead.

I do have many favourites from the Disney shorts, and The Worm Turns is almost certainly among them. Here is some of the most inventive animation of any Disney short from the late 30s. It is colourful and fluid, and I loved most of all the facial expressions(cat's faces splitting in two, eyes bulging out until longer than body and heads getting squashed into the neck) and reactions of the characters especially with Pete when he is attacked by Pluto. The setting change from the barnyard is interesting too. The music, as I've said so many times that I'm starting to sound like a broken record, has always been a large part of the success of these shorts, and the music is really excellent in The Worm Turns. The gags are simply great, some are the same gag but done in clever variations right from what happens between the fly and spider, the cat and Pluto and Pluto and Pete(which is classic). The gag is simple, but not overly-so, and always involving. The characters are wonderful and each and every one of them show their comedic chops in some way or another. Mickey is more the bystander than the hero, but due to the fact that he is made into a mad scientist sort of character he is far from bland either. Pluto is the hero here strictly speaking and he is still the cute and energetic dog that we know and love and he also provides the funniest moments. Pete is as ever the antagonist, and the part where he got his well-deserved comeuppance from Pluto is the highlight of The Worm Turns. All in all, fantastic, though for a while I wasn't sure about the meaning of the title. 10/10 Bethany Cox

"The Worm Turns" is one of the best Disney cartoons I ever loved. It all begins with Mickey Mouse, dressed up as a mad scientist, puts the few finishing touches to the Weak Made Strong Courage Builder, a super strength potion that makes a smaller animal turn the tables on a larger animal. Now for a test, as Mickey says, he squirts the super strength potion on a fly, and the fly beats up on a sneaky spider for trapping him in his web. Mickey then squirts the super strength potion on a Jerry-like mouse, and after that the mouse chases a Tom-like cat and wrestles him (just like in a similar scene from a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon called, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse") for chasing him, and throws him out of the house, where Pluto is standing out there. Pluto then chases the cat into the tool shed. The cat gets scared of Pluto's digging, and his 8 lives went for cover in the roof. Mickey squirts the super strength potion on the cat's ninth life, then all of the cat's other lives went back into the cat's body, and the cat chases (and scares) Pluto out into the street after giving him quite a scare, where Pluto calms himself. But before he makes another move, Pluto gets caught by Kron (from the Disney movie "Dinosaur"), who, in Pete's role (!), is seen here as a dog catcher. After disposing of the dinosaur dog catcher, even with the help of Mickey's super strength potion, Pluto gets sprayed by a fire hydrant that Mickey squirts the super strength potion at it when he sniffs at the fire hydrant. This Mickey Mouse cartoon is available on the Walt Disney Treasures 2-Disc DVD, "Mickey Mouse in Living Color", along with the other Mickey Mouse cartoons from 1935 to 1938 including "The Band Concert", "The Brave Little Talior", and such.

Mickey brews up potion, in his mad scientist lab, to give super-courage and strength (the secret ingredient is Bravo Pronto) to it's consumer. He tests it on a fly, which soon beats up the spider who's web it is caught in. To make sure the potion is a complete success Mickey gives it to a mouse to in turn beats up a cat (they look soooo much like Tom and Jerry btw, odd since they weren't invented yet), the cat beats up the dog (Pluto) who then beats up the Dog Warden.With such an inventive and imaginative plot I would have expected more laughs and more complexity. I'm sorry to say that the cartoon is only mildly amusing and has an abrupt and rather senseless ending.