Lend a Paw is a 1941 animated short film from Disney, directed by Clyde Geronimi, starring Pluto the Pup. It is a remake of the 1933 short Mickey's Pal Pluto.
In this cartoon Pluto is out and about on a snowy day when he sees sa sack with a brick around it floating on an ice floe in a stream. Pluto saves the victim inside the sack—a cute kitten. This backfires on Pluto when the kitten follows him home and Pluto's owner, Mickey Mouse, takes a fancy to the kitten. Mickey gives the kitten milk in Pluto's bowl and lets it sleep in Pluto's bed, much to the frustration of Pluto, who plots to get rid of the kitten.
The only cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse to ever win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Mickey is voiced by, of course, Walt Disney.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: Minnie Mouse had a role in the original Mickey's Pal Pluto short, but was removed from this remake. The litter of kittens are also condensed into one kitten for this short.
- Beware the Nice Ones: When the kitten falls into the well, Pluto's Good Angel gets tired of being pushed aside and scares Pluto's Bad Angel into disappearing.Pluto's Good Angel: Now save that kitten!!
- The Corrupter: The Bad Angel encourages Pluto to be mean to the kitten out of jealousy and get rid of him.
- Cute Kitten: Has anyone ever been better at making kittens look cute than Disney?
- Devil's Pitchfork: Pluto's Bad Angel is a little devil carrying a trident.
- Door Slam of Rage: Having thrown out Pluto, Mickey closes the door with such a slam that the poor dog is buried in snow shaken loose from the door.
- Drowning Unwanted Pets: The cartoon begins with Pluto rescuing a kitten that's in a sack tied to a weight sitting on an ice floe.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: A Bad Angel appears urging Pluto to get rid of the kitten. Pluto listens to the Bad Angel first, with unfortunate consequences. The Good Angel also appears to urge Pluto to accept the kitten but gets shooed away by the Bad Angel at first. It's only when the kitten risks drowning in the well and when the Good Angel fights back against the Bad Angel (making him disappear) that Pluto does the right thing.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Normally good-hearted Pluto gets very jealous of the young kitten under the influence of his Bad Angel. His eyes literally turn green briefly, too.
- Harmless Freezing: When Pluto is fished out of the well, he is encased in a solid block of ice. Mickey thaws him out without too much trouble.
- Horned Humanoid: The Bad Angel is a devil who looks like Pluto, only with green fur and horns.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The Good Angels isn't taken seriously by either Pluto or the Bad Angel and the latter doesn't consider him as a threat, easily disposing of him on several occasions. That is, until the Good Angel gets serious when the life of the kitten is at stake, rolling up his sleeves and scaring the Bad Angel into disappearing.
- Never My Fault: When Pluto is angry at his Bad Angel for his advice getting him thrown out of the house, the Bad Angel retorts he had no way of knowing that the goldfish would be The Stool Pigeon.
- Pain-Powered Leap: The two times Pluto's Bad Angel stings the Good Angel in the butt with his trident, the Good Angel jumps away in pain.
- Pain to the Ass: The Bad Angel stings the Good Angel twice in the rear with his trident to shoo him away and make sure Pluto only listens to his evil advices.
- The Remake: Of the black-and-white Mickey short Mickey's Pal Pluto, which has an identical plot to this, but with several kittens as opposed to just one, as well as the addition of Minnie.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Pluto's good angel speaks in rhyme.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Pluto turns blue from the freezing chill after going after the kitten to rescue him from a well and leaping into the basket, which is then lowered down the well and into the water by a crank. Pluto's bad conscience gets scared and turns yellow when his good conscience is about to give him a licking.
- Toon Physics: The kitten stays longer in the water than Pluto and doesn't "freeze" as in encased in a solid block of ice per the physics of this cartoon. Pluto, however, does.
