It is one of the earliest surviving products of the Laugh-O-Gram Studio to be based on a fairy tale, alongside Little Red Riding Hood (1919) and Cinderella (1922).
[3] While supposedly based on Puss in Boots (1697) by Charles Perrault, it bears little actual resemblance to any literary version of the story.
In contrast, the 1930s fairy-tale derived animated shorts of Disney incorporated themes examining the morality of the characters involved, and were more didactic in intent.
Disney led the way towards the animated melodrama genre and the incorporation of seriousness in the plots.
[4] The relatively primitive drawings were created by the small staff of the studio, which consisted of Walt Disney himself, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, Ub Iwerks, Carman Maxwell, Lorrey Tague, and Otto Walliman.
[3] The frequent gags and unconventional plots provide the Laugh-O-Grams with the mood of a carnival spectacle.
The film inspires Julius to form a plan which will allow his master to win the hand of the royal daughter.
Julius' original plan was to use a hypnotic machine to control the bull and impress the king.
This authority figure is humiliated and its power is undermined, all through the efforts of a commoner who stages a personal revolt.
The theme is probably derived from the tradition of republicanism in the United States, which rejected monarchy in its various forms.
A conventional happy ending to a fairy tale tends to involve a wedding ceremony and the victorious characters moving into a castle.