Have a lot of admiration and love for in my opinion the definitive, as well as most prolific (and in a way that was of good quality even for a lot of output every year, rather than churning it out), Russian animation studio Soyuzmultfilm. Ivan Ivanov-Vano also did a lot of work for the studio that was very good to wonderful in his long career there, though some of Soyuzmultfilm's best work came from other directors.
Based upon the poem/story by Chukovsky teaching the value and importance of neatness and cleanliness, this 1939 black and white animated short 'Moydodyr' is more than worthwhile and for this subject quite important. 'Moydodyr' was made again in colour and with a longer length in 1954, which in a way is superior and is better made. So in short, both versions of the story are well worth seeing and children especially would benefit from seeing them.
1939's 'Moydodyr' could have gotten going quicker, with it taking too long for Moydodyr (the only properly interesting character here) to appear, the very beginning being slightly too cute set up.
As aforementioned, the 1954 version of 'Moydodyr' is superior visually, and that is nothing to do with that it is in colour as there are plenty of great black and white cartoons around that look good. Some of the animation here though is on the primitive side (looking like it was made ten years earlier), where there is a lack of finesse in the drawing and the backgrounds at times sparse.
Conversely, 'Moydodyr' has a playful and lushly orchestrated music score that adds to the action and doesn't work against it. While only Moydodyr has a personality that is more than being just cute, the boy character is engaging enough and the chemistry between the two achieves the right mix of not being cutesy or creating too much tension, doing well entertaining and educating. Moydodyr is a compelling character and is a good, forceful though not at all scary teacher sort of character.
'Moydodyr' brings out the teaching the value and importance of being neat and clean lesson, one that should be learnt very early on, in an informative way without talking down to the viewer or preaching at them. Also making it accessible and easy to understand for children and adults alike, which was appreciated. The ways of teaching the lesson too are interesting to watch visually.
Summing up, pretty good though didn't blow me away. 7/10
