Dr. Grob's Animation Review

Puss ‘n’ Boats

August 4, 2011 in ★★½, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Abe Levitow, coastal guard, harbor, ships, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Abe Levitow
Release Date: May 5, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★½
Review:

In ‘Puss ‘n’ Boats’ Tom is a coastal guard trying to stop Jerry from entering a ship full of cheese. Surprisingly, this is a continuing story containing no black-out gags.

Unfortunately, the designs and animation are both weak, as is the music by first-timer Carl Brandt. The cartoon does contain some clever ideas, but they never get funny.

Watch ‘Puss ‘n’ Boats’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://tune.pk/video/23936/Tom-And-Jerry-Puss-N-Boats-Episode-147

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 148
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Love, Love My Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Fillet Meow

Fillet Meow

August 2, 2011 in ★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Abe Levitow, Fillet Meow, goldfish, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Abe Levitow
Release Date: June 30, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★
Review:

In ‘Fillet Meow’ Tom is after a goldfish, who looks a little like Chloe from ‘Pinocchio‘ (1940). Of course Jerry tries to protect the cute little fish.

‘Fillet Meow’ was the third Tom & Jerry cartoon directed by Abe Levitow and by now quality standards had dropped almost to the level of the Gene Deitch Tom & Jerry shorts. The result is rather awful, and nowhere near the quality of the similar ‘Jerry and the Goldfish‘ (1951).

Watch ‘Fillet Meow’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://onlineplayer.eu/Tom-and-Jerry/filet-meow-148.html

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 149
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Love, Love My Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Matinee Mouse

Love, Love My Mouse

July 31, 2011 in ★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Ben Washam, Chuck Jones, love, Love Love My Mouse, puss, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Chuck Jones & Ben Washam
Release Date: April 28, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Tom gives Jerry to his beloved, but she takes pity on the poor little mouse and protects him against Tom.

Jerry takes advantage of the situation, however, never stopping at putting the blame on Tom. Then, in the end, the puss’s love changes into hunger…

This is a very Chuck Jonesy cartoon, with loads of his wonderful trademark elegant designs and strong facial expressions. These solely make this cartoon one of the better entries in the series.

Watch ‘Love, Love My Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 147
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Jerry-Go-Round
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Puss ‘n’ Boats

Jerry-Go-Round

July 29, 2011 in ★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Abe Levitow, circus, elephant, Jerry-Go-Round, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Abe Levitow
Release Date: March 3, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★
Review:

‘Jerry-Go-Round’ is staged at a circus: Jerry helps a circus elephant, who in turn protects Jerry from Tom.

This rather dull and unfunny cartoon marks the debut of animator Abe Levitow as a Tom & Jerry director. It is not a success. Levitow was an experienced director: in 1959 he had directed several Warner Brothers cartoons, and at UPA he had directed Mr. Magoo television specials, and the studio’s second feature, Gay-Purree (1962). Yet, this experience is hard to detect in ‘Jerry Go-Round’: both the designs, the timing and the animation are inferior to those in the cartoons directed by Chuck Jones himself.

Watch ‘Jerry-Go-Round’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 146
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Jerry, Jerry Quite Contrary
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Love, Love My Mouse

Rock-A-Bye Pinky

July 27, 2011 in ★★★★, Pink Panther films | Tags: 1966, camping, dog, Hawley Pratt, Rock-A-Bye Pinky, sleep, the little guy, The Pink Panther | Leave a comment

Director: Hawley Pratt
Release Date: December 23, 1966
Stars: The Pink Panther, The Little Guy
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Rock-a-bye Pinky’ the little guy is camping out, but his snoring troubles the Pink Panther, who’s sleeping in the tree above.

The Pink Panther tries to get rid of the little guy, but it is the little guy’s dog who gets the blame. When finally man and dog discover that the Pink Panther is the real cause of their trouble, they chase him out of the park into the distance.

‘Rock-A-Bye Pinky’ is one of the better Pink Panther cartoons: it has a good story and some great gags. The dog would reappear in ‘Pink Paradise’, the following year.

Watch ‘Rock-A-Bye Pinky’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Historia Naturae, Suita

July 25, 2011 in ★★★★★, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers, Stop motion films | Tags: 1967, animals, dances, Historia Naturae, Jan Svankmajer, skeletons, stuffed animals, Suita, surrealism | Leave a comment

Director: Jan Švankmajer
Release Date: 1967
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

‘Historia Naturae, Suita’ is an abstract, yet morbid and disturbing film.

It uses drawings, models, skeletons, stuffed and live animals, which change into each other and which perform morbid dances. Their antics are interspersed with a close up of a man eating meat.

We see molluscs (Aquatilia, foxtrot), insects (Hexapoda, bolero), fish (Pisces, blues), reptiles (Reptilia, tarantella), birds (Aves, tango), mammals (Mammalia, menuet), monkeys (Simiae, polka) and man (Homo, waltz), successively.

It shows us that we, men, are made from the same mortal matter as the rest of the animal kingdom, which in this film appear to us only as collectibles or food. This unsettling reminder is emphasized by the last shot, in which the human is replaced by a skull, eating…

The music is a perfect match to the surrealistic imagery, with its rather abstract, uncanny and atonal renderings of the dance forms mentioned.

Watch ‘Historia Naturae, Suita’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.totalshortfilms.com/ver/pelicula/379

‘Historia Naturae, Suita’ is available on the DVD ‘Jan Svankmajer – The Complete Short Films’

Et Cetera

July 23, 2011 in ★★★★★, cut-out animation films, Czech Republic, European films, Independent film makers | Tags: 1966, Et Cetera, flying, Jan Svankmajer, repetition, surrealism | 1 comment

Director: Jan Švankmajer
Release Date: 1966
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

In ‘Et Cetera’ three faceless human figures demonstrate repetitive and aimless actions.

The first shows how to fly with wings, only to reach his own starting point. The second transforms himself into the animal he’s training using a whip, and the third keeps on drawing houses he cannot enter or leave.

Unlike most of Jan Švankmajer’s films, ‘Et Cetera’ uses 2d animation. It’s a clever and somehow saddening film: although the three little stories are extremely simple, they seem to tell something about the condition humaine. ‘Et Cetera’ uses great electronic music, which adds to the surrealistic atmosphere.

Watch ‘Et Cetera’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Et Cetera’ is available on the DVD ‘Jan Svankmajer – The Complete Short Films’

Pink, Plunk, Plink

July 21, 2011 in ★★★, Pink Panther films | Tags: 1966, concert, concert cartoon, conductor, Hawley Pratt, Henry Mancini, Ludwig van Beethoven, Pink Plunk Plink, the little guy, The Pink Panther | 1 comment

Director: Hawley Pratt
Release Date: May 25, 1966
Stars: The Pink Panther, The Little Guy
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Pink, Plunk, Plink’ the Pink Panther spoils a performance of Beethoven’s fifth symphony by trying to play his own theme music, much to dismay of the conductor (the little guy).

The Pink Panther finally succeeds to replace the conductor, but there appears only to be one man in the audience, Henry Mancini, composer of the Pink Panther’s theme music, himself (live action footage).

‘Pink, Plunk, Plink’ is not one of the best concert cartoons ever made, but the little guy’s frustrations are wonderfully animated.

Watch ‘Pink, Plunk, Plink’ yourself and tell me what you think:

The Pink Blue Print

July 19, 2011 in ★★★½, Pink Panther films | Tags: 1966, building site, construction worker, Hawley Pratt, the little guy, The Pink Blue Print | Leave a comment

Director: Hawley Pratt
Release Date: May 25, 1966
Stars: The Pink Panther, The Little Guy
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

The little guy from ‘The Pink Phink‘ (1964) and ‘We Give Pink Stamps’ (1965) returns and this time to stay.

Luckily so, for the little guy unwillingly helped to make better Pink Panther cartoons, being the perfect foil for the panther’s antics.

In ‘The Pink Blue Print’ the little guy is a construction worker trying to build a house. He’s hindered by the Pink Panther the same way he was in ‘The Pink Phink‘, leading to nice blackout gags.

Watch ‘The Pink Blue Print’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Pink Blue Print’ is available on the DVD Box set ‘The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection’

Pink Pistons

July 17, 2011 in ★★½, Pink Panther films | Tags: 1966, cars, Hawley Pratt, Pink Pistons, race, The Pink Panther | Leave a comment

Director: Hawley Pratt
Release Date: March 16, 1966
Stars: The Pink Panther
Rating: ★★½
Review:

In ‘Pink Pistons’ the Pink Panther buys a new car with anthropomorphic features, but after a race against an old lady he turns it back in again.

This cartoon has a great opening scene of the Pink Panther trying some new models. Unfortunately, the rest of the cartoon does not maintain that level.

Watch ‘Pink Pistons’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Bully for Pink

July 15, 2011 in ★★★, Pink Panther films | Tags: 1965, bullfight, Bully for Pink, Hawley Pratt, The Pink Panther | Leave a comment

Director: Hawley Pratt
Release Date: December 14, 1965
Stars: The Pink Panther
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Bully for Pink’, the Pink Panther wants to be a bull fighter and so he steals a magical cape to use it as a red sheet.

‘Bully for Pink’ is slightly funnier than contemporary Pink Panther cartoons, but it doesn’t come near the heights of bullfight cartoons like Tex Avery’s ‘Señor Droopy’ (1949) or Chuck Jones’s ‘Bully for Bugs’ (1953).

Watch ‘Bully for Pink’ yourself and tell me what you think:

Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary

July 13, 2011 in ★★★½, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Chuck Jones, Don Elliott, Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary, sleepwalking, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: February 17, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

In ‘Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary’ Jerry is a somnambulist who teases Tom in his sleep, much to his own dismay.

This is a good story idea, and it leads to a wonderful scene of Jerry trying to stay awake, but also to a weak ending of Tom migrating to a distant desert and Jerry sleepwalking after him.

Two other things are noteworthy about ‘Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary’: it reuses the wire gag from Chuck Jones own classic cartoon ‘Mouse Wreckers‘ (1949), and Don Elliott’s music is even better here than in ‘Duel Personality‘.

Watch ‘Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 145
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Duel Personality
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Jerry-Go-Round

Duel Personality

July 11, 2011 in ★★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1966, Chuck Jones, Dean Elliott, duel, Duel Personality, Eugene Poddany, Tom & Jerry | 2 comments

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: January 20, 1966
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

After another chase, Jerry challenges Tom for a duel.

What follows are rather Road Runner-like blackout gags in which the two try various weaponry. In the end it’s Tom who gets weary of their misguided attempts and goes back to the original chase.

‘Duel Personality’ is an original and entertaining film, in which the titles only arrive after 1 minute and 24 seconds. It’s also the first Tom and Jerry featuring music by composer Dean Elliott. Elliott replaced Eugene Poddany and his music is jazzier than Poddany’s, and his use of recurring themes make his music more like that of classic Tom & Jerry composer Scott Bradley. All in all a great improvement for the series.

Watch ‘Duel Personality’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 144
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Cat’s Me-ouch
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Jerry Jerry Quite Contrary

The Cat’s Me-ouch

July 9, 2011 in ★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: Chuck Jones, small bulldog, The Cat's Me-ouch, Tom & Jerry | Comments closed

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: December 22, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Jerry orders a bulldog to help him against Tom. The bulldog turns out to be very tiny, but he’s ferocious nonetheless.

Unfortunately this nice idea leads to a slow and weak story, despite a clever gag with Tom and the little bulldog swapping doors.

The little bulldog, however, was a character to remember, and he would return in Tom & Jerry’ very last theatrical release, ‘Purr-chance to a Dream‘ (1967).

Watch an excerpt from ‘The Cat’s Me-ouch’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 143
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Year of the Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Duel Personality

The Year of the Mouse

July 7, 2011 in ★★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, Chuck Jones, insane, Michael Maltese, Mouse Wreckers, The Year of the Mouse, Tom & Jerry | 1 comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: June 9, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese reuse their story idea from their classic Warner Brothers cartoon ‘Mouse Wreckers‘ (1949), with Jerry and an anonymous mouse replacing Hubie and Bertie, and Tom replacing Claude Cat.

Like in the former cartoon, the two mice try to convince the unhappy cat he’s insane. The gags are different, though, as is the ending, for unlike Claude Cat, Tom gets his torturers and punishes them in the end.

Although ‘Mouse Wreckers‘ is much to be preferred above ‘The Year of the Mouse’, the inspired story works once again, and results in one of the better Tom & Jerry cartoons by Chuck Jones’s unit.

Watch ‘The Year of the Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 142
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Tom Thump
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Cat’s Me-ouch

http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/437/tom-jerry-the-year-of-the-mouse.html

Of Feline Bondage

July 5, 2011 in ★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, Chuck Jones, fairy, invisible, Of Feline Bondage, Tom & Jerry | 1 comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: May 19, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In ‘Of Feline Bondage’ Jerry, whose life is made miserable by the sadistic Tom, is visited by a mouse fairy who gives him a potion that makes him invisible.

Jerry uses his invisibility to hunt Tom around the house with some scissors, cutting up Tom. However, he gets the same treatment from Tom when he gets visible again. The results are so ridiculous, the two laugh their heads off. Fade out…

‘Of Feline Bondage’ is a rather weak cartoon, despite some nice typical Chuck Jones expressions on both Tom and Jerry.

Watch ‘Of Feline Bondage’ yourself and tell me what you think:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49xmhr

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 140
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: I’m Just Wild About Jerry
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Tom Thump

I’m Just Wild About Jerry

July 3, 2011 in ★★★½, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, Chuck Jones, department store, I'm Just Wild About Jerry, running gag, streetcar, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: April 7, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

‘I’m Just Wild About Jerry’ is a chase cartoon taking place in a department store. It’s Jones’ fifth Tom & Jerry chase cartoon, ending a mini-series of chase cartoons within Chuck Jones’s Tom & Jerry series.

Although not hilarious, ‘I’m Just Wild About Jerry’ is particularly inspired, and arguably the best of the five. It contains a great gag in which Tom deftly catches a falling pot, but not the bowling ball that follows after. It also contains a running gag involving a streetcar.

Watch ‘I’m Just Wild About Jerry’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.izlesem.org/tom-and-jerry-i-m-just-wild-about-jerry-19651.html

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 139
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Haunted Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Of Feline Bondage

Haunted Mouse

July 1, 2011 in ★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, Chuck Jones, Dr. Seuss, Haunted Mouse, magician, mandrake, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: March 24, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Not to be confused with the 1941 Tex Avery cartoon ‘The Haunted Mouse’, this cartoon interrupts the string of chase cartoons by featuring a real story: Jerry is visited by his cousin(?), a Mandrake-like magician, who easily defeats Tom.

Less funny than the remotely similar ‘Jerry’s Cousin‘ (1951), this rather slow cartoon nevertheless features a hilarious scene in which the magician mouse remains an über-cool, deadpan expression while being caught by a sardonically laughing Tom. It also features some rather Dr. Seuss-like rabbits.

Watch ‘Haunted Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.220.ro/desene-animate/Tom-And-Jerry-Haunted-Mouse/f6HoGrlyGO/

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 138
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: I’m Just Wild About Jerry

The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off

June 29, 2011 in ★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, chase, Jim Pabian, The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Jim Pabian
Release Date: March 3, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★
Review:

‘The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off’, its literary title notwithstanding, is Chuck Jones’ fourth Tom & Jerry chase cartoon using blackout gags, this time indoors.

This was the first of the Chuck Jones Tom & Jerries not directed by Chuck Jones himself, and it shows. The designs and the animation are worse than in other entries. Especially Jerry is badly designed here. The music is also particularly uninspired. All this results in one of the weakest entries in the series.

About its director, Jim Pabian, little is known. He co-wrote this cartoon and the next, ‘Haunted Mouse’,with Chuck Jones. ‘The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off’ is the only cartoon he ever directed.

Watch ‘The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v20008062MnN6BagS

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 137
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Bad Day at Cat Rock
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Haunted Mouse

Bad Day at Cat Rock

June 27, 2011 in ★★★, MGM films, Tom & Jerry | Tags: 1965, Bad Day at Cat Rock, building site, Chuck Jones, opening credits, Tom & Jerry | Leave a comment

Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: February 10, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘Bad Day at Cat Rock’ is a third chase cartoon with blackout gags, this time on a building site.

Although it is one of the weaker chase cartoons, this cartoon features particularly nice opening credits and a very funny Road Runner-like series of gags in which Tom tries to launch himself numerous times using a boulder. Unfortunately, it ends abruptly, when Jerry draws an end to the cartoon.

Watch ‘Bad Day at Cat Rock’ yourself and tell me what you think:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qovbm

This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 136
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Tom-ic Energy
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Brothers Carry-Mouse-Off

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