Director: Friz Freleng
Release Date: March 19, 1960
Stars: Sylvester, Sylvester junior
Rating: ★★½
Review:
‘Goldimouse and the Three Cats’ starts as a re-telling of the classic fairy tale with Sylvester as the papa bear, Sylvester junior as the baby bear, and a rather anonymous female mouse as Goldimouse.
This part uses a classic fairy tale voice over, but after three minutes the tale is told and makes place for a routine in which Sylvester tries to capture Goldimouse to impress his son. This part borrows heavily from McKimson’s Hippety Hopper cartoons, with Sylvester junior hiding in shame under a paper bag.
A nice touch is that Sylvester keeps on trying, even after his wife and son have long lost faith, making him a genuine fanatic. This cannot hide the fact that this is a cartoon of tried routine spot gags, which adds nothing new, despite the fairy tale setting with which the film starts. Despite Freleng’s excellent timing, one thus has ample time to enjoy the charming background art.
Watch ‘Goldimouse and the Three Cats’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Goldimouse and the Three Cats’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Five’
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January 30, 2025 at 06:27
Tony Perodeau
I rate this ***½. Friz Freleng and Mike Maltese lend fresh touches to the Sylvester junior series which was otherwise in Bob McKimson territory. McKimson’s boy-cat is modest and a bit of a whiner; one can picture him being bullied offscreen. Freleng makes him angrier and a possible bully, while his dad is wilier but not wily enough (rather like a certain desert canid Maltese helped create). The weary housewife/mother is a nice touch and the screen time allocated to her is just right. Freleng shows both mercy and great timing by letting the climactic explosion happen offscreen with the wife and son safe in a bunker (the wife’s perfectly timed catch prevents a falling vase from becoming a hazard).