Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) User Reviews

Dig The Mouse In The Davy Crockett Hat!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 7 November 2007]

In this takeoff of "The Three Bears," we get cats instead, led by the patriarch "Sylvester." The baby cat has "spoiled brat" written on his highchair so immediately you know that's going to be a key part of the story. The "brat" has a point: "cats don't eat porridge; I want a mouse."

While the cats go for a walk in the forest, little "Goldimouse" comes out of her hole, tastes the porridge, gets sleepy and winds up in the spoiled brat's bed snoring away. By the way, for those old enough to remember, check out the Davy Crockett coonskin cap on the little cat. Now there is some good nostalgia. There are a number of little things like that in this cartoon that made it better than one might think.

It takes until the halfway point for some really good jokes, however, but they do arrive. Goldimouse is pretty funny just in her blonde wig and dress - and the kid cat - a typical teen with peer pressure - has lines like "how can I face my friends with a father who can't catch a mouse? For shame, for shame!" He then puts a paper bag over his head. (It looked better than the way I'm telling it.)

"Whoever heard of cats eating porridge? Why can't we have a mouse like other pussycats?"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 21 August 2016]

Yet another Looney Tunes take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This one's directed by Friz Freleng, who had done a spin on Goldilocks at least once before. This version features Sylvester and Sylvester, Jr. as two of the three cats from the title. Sylvester, his wife, and Junior all leave their house for a walk and when they return they find a little blonde mouse has eaten their porridge and slept in their beds. Sylvester tries (and fails) to capture the mouse while his spoiled son expresses disappointment in his father at every turn. Most of the laughs come from Junior's remarks and the dysfunctional nature of the Sylvester family. The mouse is pretty cute, too. The animation is nice and colorful. Great voice work from June Foray and Mel Blanc. All in all, it's a very entertaining cartoon, especially given that it was made during a mostly dreadful period for Looney Tunes.

Starts slow, gets better

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 14 July 2010]

I am familiar with this after seeing 1001 Rabbit Tales, and while I enjoyed other cartoons from the compilation more, I liked Goldimouse and the Three Cats. It is a good and quite original take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, while a little too short and it isn't until halfway through when we get some jokes, so the first three minutes or so felt somewhat lukewarm, slow and unfunny. However the animation is very good, as is the music, which is a lot of fun. The dialogue is funny and smart, and the sight gags are decent. I liked how Sylvester was the patriarch of the family and fell victim to his own traps, and that Sylvester Jnr was branded the spoiled brat. Goldimouse was pretty cute too. Overall, a cartoon that starts off slow but gets better. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Put her on the plate, Pop! Put her on the plate!"

[slymusic · 19 May 2010]

Directed by Friz Freleng, with fine voice acting by Mel Blanc & June Foray, "Goldimouse and the Three Cats" is a really good Sylvester/Sylvester Jr. cartoon, the plot of which you can already guess without seeing the film.

My favorite moments: When the narrator (Foray) says "After Goldimouse finished the porridge, she became very sleepy", Goldimouse (Foray again) turns to the camera and repeats "I'm very sleepy." When Sylvester Sr. (Blanc) gets stuck inside the mouse hole, Sylvester Jr. (Blanc again) calls for Mama (Foray) to bring the "thing"; Mama emerges carrying a plunger while wearing a ho-hum expression on her face (aided by Milt Franklyn's distorted music score). Funniest of all, when Sylvester Sr. tiptoes back & forth carrying tools (again helped by the music), Mama and her son read their books and casually walk into a bomb shelter................KABOOM!

"Goldimouse and the Three Cats" is a funny cartoon that brings out the bratty nature of Sylvester Jr. I don't think he ever became a big star like his father did, but he fortunately is still remembered today.

I've seen better, but this one's still pretty funny.

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 12 May 2007]

OK, so "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is one of the easiest stories to play with; the Termite Terrace crowd had already done so with "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears". "Goldimouse and the Three Cats" casts Sylvester as the patriarch of a feline household. He and his wife both have porridge the wrong temperature, while their spoiled brat son - actually identified as "Spoiled Brat" - won't eat his. So, this brood belonging to the family Felidae* goes out for a walk (on a bridge full of loose boards; uh oh!), and sure enough, a mouse enters their house and screws things up. I shouldn't have to tell you what sorts of things happen to Sylvester when he tries to catch the playful rodent, but I will note that dynamite is involved (they loved their TNT, didn't they?).

Yes, it's sort of a predictable cartoon. What's really neat is what I observe now that I'm old enough to understand it: the shelter. I assume that it was an allusion to Cold War-era bomb shelters (this cartoon came out during that period).

So, it's not a great cartoon - probably Friz Freleng's greatest Sylvester cartoon was "Birds Anonymous" - but still worth seeing.

*Felidae is the taxonomic family to which cats belong.

"Put her on the plate, Pop . . . "

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 7 December 2015]

" . . . put her on the plate!" demands Sylvester, Junior, in this Hyper-Sexualized retelling of the Goldilocks story. Here in Puritanical America, the Uptight Ruling Minority prefers to think of food in a totally asexual manner. Our top U.S. "Supreme Court" is composed of six Justices who cannot eat meat on Fridays, rounded out by three forbidden to chow down on bacon and pork chops. In other words, NOT ONE of our Omnivorous American Majority even has a seat at the U.S. Supreme Table! All regular Americans are relegated to the lowly Kiddies' Tables! GOLDIMOUSE AND THE THREE CATS anticipates such a Taliban-type gastronomical trend, and attempts to preempt it by urging us to wallow in a hedonistic Feast of Forbidden Fruits, beginning with Junior's Eyes Wide Open consumption of some blonde-haired dainty female morsels. The only alternative to such a fight for America's Food Liberty is an increasingly bland blend of pale pablum, represented by the "porridge" at which Junior turns up his nose. As Head of the Household, Sylvester, Senior, battles heroically against the Soup Nazis and their Fascist Fare to get Junior his heart's desire. GOLDIMOUSE's close holds out little hope for our Freedom of Food, and with the blob of Genetically Modified Porridge currently engulfing America, I'm afraid that Warner Bros. got it right.