Dog Gone Modern (1939) User Reviews

This sort of thing was handled much better in "Design for Leaving"

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 4 January 2022]

"Dog Gone Modern" is a short from Looney Tunes that was no doubt inspired from model homes created for the World's Fair. These homes featured all sorts of supposed time saving gadgetry.

The story begins with two dogs coming upon a model home which is ultra-modern. After getting inside, all sorts of mayhem ensue as the robotic time savers run amok and abuse the poor pooches.

Had I never seen "Design for Leaving", a later Looney Tunes short starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, I might have enjoyed "Dog Gone Modern" a bit more. "Design" offered couple things "Dog Gone Modern" didn't--interesting characters and lots of great gags. Instead, "Dog Gone Modern" is pretty dull and easy to skip. Additionally, my daughter complained how in "Dog Gone Modern" the theme seemed to be animal abuse...making it a big unsavory to watch.

Poor characters take away from the expected gags

[bob the moo · 20 September 2003]

Two curious dogs make their way into a show home which has been set up to demonstrate the domestic technology of the future – today! However things set up to help humans are bewildering to the dogs and also put them at risk of harm as they unwittingly set things in motion!

I often find that Looney Tunes without the strongest characters are the ones whose material needs to be the strongest. Often a Bugs Bunny cartoon can be based on average gags but come out better due to his delivery. In this case the jokes are actually pretty good albeit recognisable – we've seen the futuristic stuff before, especially the robot with a broom! The gags are funny and the cartoon is funny, but the dogs are the problem.

They lack character and I never felt like I was interested in them or what was happening to them, even if it was making me laugh at the same time. They come across as any old animated animal whereas I prefer to have a character in my cartoons.

Overall the cartoon is funny regardless but it is annoying that the dogs are given little in the way of personality or character. They are merely objects in the cartoon and it's almost like the house itself becomes the character of the cartoon with them merely tossed around. Funny but the dogs do take away more than they bring.

Modern Dognology

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 19 May 2016]

"Doog Gone Modern" is a Warner Bros short film from 1939, so this one already had its 75th anniversary recently. But it is not one of the more known works by the very prolific company, maybe because it features none of their trademark characters. No Bug, no Daffy, no Porky. Instead we have two dogs who run into a lot of trouble with a restless robot. I must say there are moments when this film is cute and moments when it is entertaining, but it is not enough I must say and this film is also one of the rare occasions when Warner Bros went over the top with the sound and music. I am not only talking about the band we hear on one occasion, even if that was pretty creepy, not because of the singing, which was fine, but because of the animation that went with it. Overall, this one does not really deserve to be more popular than it is. I don't recommend the watch.

Ho-hum, except for the piano sequence

[Squonk · 3/10 · 26 May 1999]

Here's another short featuring the two curious dogs, not my favorite Warner Brothers creations. Here, the dogs wander into a futuristic house where they battle with technology. A great setting, unfortunately there are many wasted opportunities for comedy. The piano sequence, however, is far above the rest of the film. A better version of this short is "House Hunting Mice" which uses several of the same gags.