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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
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
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
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
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
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: January 27, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:‘
‘Tom-ic Energy’ is Chuck Jones’s second Tom & Jerry chase cartoon with blackout gags, this time situated in the city streets.
The short contains elements from two of Chuck Jones’ earlier series: Road Runner and Pepe Le Pew. It’s fast, it’s well-animated, its music (by Eugene Poddany) is not bad, and yet, it never becomes really funny. It’s difficult to tell why not.
Watch ‘Tom-ic Energy’ yourself and tell me what you think:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ofgp7?GK_FACEBOOK_OG_HTML5=1
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 135
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Ah, Sweet Mouse Story of Life
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Bad Day at Cat Rock
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: January 20, 1965
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘Ah, Sweet Mouse Story of Life’ is the first of a short series of five classic chase cartoons with blackout gags, resembling Chuck Jones’ own Road Runner series.
The gags are good, but somehow surprisingly unfunny at the same time. Most remarkably, this cartoon revives an ancient cartoon power, frequently used by Felix the cat in the twenties: the ability to use one’s question marks and thoughts.
Watch ‘Ah, Sweet Mouse Story of Life’ yourself and tell me what you think:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3yzc0k
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 134
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Tom-ic Energy
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: December 8, 1964
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★
Review:
In ‘The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse’ Tom is master of the house and Jerry is his slave. But then enters a cute young kitten. Tom gets jealous at the intruder and tries to get rid of it. But Jerry befriends the kitten and in the end the tables are turned.
One of the weaker entries in Chuck Jones’ Tom & Jerry series, ‘The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse’ is a surprisingly unfunny cartoon, suffering from bad timing and ugly music.
Watch ‘The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3ngu09
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 133
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Snowbody Loves Me
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Ah, Sweet Mouse Story of Life
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: May 12, 1964
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
In ‘Snowbody Loves Me’ we see Jerry freezing in the Swiss Alps, but then he finds a cheese shop.
Jerry manages to enter it, but locks Tom outside by doing so. Tom manages to throw Jerry out again, but like in the early Tom & Jerry cartoon ‘The Night before Christmas‘ (1941) his conscience plagues him, and he subsequently rescues Jerry from death.
Like ‘Much Ado About Mousing‘ ‘Snowbody Loves Me’ borrows a theme from an earlier Hanna-Barbera cartoon, and again, the result cannot stand the comparison to its source of inspiration. ‘Snowbody Loves Me’ is cute alright, typical for Jones’s late style, and its colors and designs are beautiful. However, the action is slow, and the gags are mediocre.
Watch an excerpt from ‘Snowbody Loves Me’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 132
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Much Ado About Mousing
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: April 14, 1964
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★½
Review:
In the opening scene of ‘Much Ado About Mousing’ we see Tom fishing for Jerry in a harbor, using cheese. But Jerry seeks help from a yellow bulldog. The bulldog gives Jerry a whistle with which he can call for the Bulldog’s help.
Sounds familiar? Indeed, this idea is borrowed from the early Tom & Jerry short ‘The Bodyguard’ (1944). ‘Much Ado About Mousing’ is not bad, but it pales when compared to the former cartoon. Its story and its gags are fine, but the music, by Eugene Poddany, wears the action down, despite his effective use of Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous fate theme from his fifth symphony.
Watch ‘Much Ado About Mousing’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 131
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Is There A Doctor in the Mouse?
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Snowbody Loves Me
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: March 24, 1964
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:
In ‘Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?’ Jerry invents a potion, which makes him lightning fast.
Jerry uses his new speed to eat everything that Tom wants to eat. When he runs out of speed he drinks a potion, which makes him enormous, thus abruptly ending the film.
Like the Hanna-Barbera Tom & Jerry cartoon ‘The Invisible Mouse‘ (1947), ‘Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?’ suffers from an all too powerful Jerry. When Tom is bullied, it’s not comical, it’s sad. The result is one of the weaker entries in Jones’ Tom & Jerry series.
‘Is There A Doctor in the Mouse’ has the questionable honor to be the first Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry cartoon with a pun in the title. Titles like these would dominate the Chuck Jones Tom & Jerries. They were not their best feature. Apart from being rather trite, they more often than not had nothing to do with the content, at all.
Watch ‘Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?’ yourself and tell me what you think:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ofixi
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 130
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Cat Above, The Mouse Below
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Much Ado About Mousing
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: February 25, 1964
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
In ‘The Cat Above, The Mouse Below’ Tom is a successful opera singer performing Figaro’s famous aria ‘Largo el factotum’ from Gioachino Rossini’s ‘Il barbiere de Sevilla’ (what else?) at a grand theater, but awakening Jerry by doing so.
In this short Tom displays some fantastic facial expressions, director Chuck Jones’ trademark. It’s also probably the best of all Chuck Jones’s Tom & Jerry cartoons, albeit not as funny as Jones’ earlier ‘Long-haired Hare‘ (1949) or Tex Avery’s ‘Magical Maestro’ (1952), which both use the same theme.
Watch ‘The Cat Above, The Mouse Below’ yourself and tell me what you think:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6eg8vi
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 129
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Penthouse Mouse
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?
Director: Chuck Jones
Release Date: July 27, 1963
Stars: Tom & Jerry
Rating: ★★★
Review:
‘Penthouse Mouse’ was the first cartoon in a series of 34 Tom & Jerry cartoons produced by Chuck Jones, after he was fired by Warner Brothers.
Jones had taken all his staff with him, including writer Michael Maltese and co-director Maurice Noble. Even Warner Bros. voice Mel Blanc contributes to the film. The result is typical Chuck Jones: highly stylized backgrounds, excellent animation, and great facial expressions and poses. All this makes a great improvement on the Gene Deitch films.
Oddly enough ‘Penthouse Mouse’ borrows its theme precisely from one of Jones’ predecessor’s films: the Gene Deitch’s Tom & Jerry short ‘Buddies Thicker than Water‘ (1962). But now the story is reversed: Tom has made it on the top floor of a skyscraper, while Jerry is the hungry tramp, roaming the streets. Unfortunately, the story is not very consistent, and the result is not really good. Jones could do better as he was going to show in his next Tom & Jerry cartoon, ‘The Cat Above, The Mouse Below‘.
Watch ‘Penthouse Mouse’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Tom & Jerry cartoon No. 128
To the previous Tom & Jerry cartoon: Carmen Get It
To the next Tom & Jerry cartoon: The Cat Above, The Mouse Below
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 