It's Greek to Me-ow! (1961) User Reviews

Our Favorite Cat and Mouse Get into Trouble in Ancient Greece

[Kalashnikovin · 6/10 · 27 June 2022]

For a Tom and Jerry Short it is an Original Idea to do it in Ancient Greece but Unfortunately this Short wastes the Idea making Half of the Short be in a Museum Full of Monuments, but despite this it is not a Bad Short.

The Short is not as Cruel as Down and Outing or as Bizarre as Switchin Kitten but it falls into the Surreal Category, the Short Presents Innovative Ideas for Tom and Jerry as they both wear Greek costumes and even Tom uses a Trash Can as armor!.

The Short Visually looks Horrendous, the Backgrounds are very Limited and look very Empty, the animations look Sketchy and too Rough, some scenes look good but suddenly the animation gets worse out of nowhere, the short constantly changes from a light Animation to a rather Rough one making the Cutscenes look Choppy and very Weird, but still the Tom and Jerry Skins look pretty Decent and the Museum Guards looks Flawed but still looks passable.

The Music is Gloomy and sounds quite Weird and for some Reason it Brings back the Feel of Switchin Kitten being quite Bizarre but anyway the Music is Pretty Decent and makes the Short Feel Unlike Any Short of this era.

Voice Acting is Miserably Awful (except for the Narrator since that one does sound Decent) Tom's Screams are Horrifying and sound too Horrendous Like the Other Shorts.

In itself, this short is quite Poor, unlike others, I tolerate Deitch's works since they were part of my Childhood, the Rough Animation and the Sound Effects are Unintentionally Funny in my opinion, setting it in Ancient Greece would have worked... but if Gene Deitch hadn't done it, the Plot was wasted to no more Power by basing it entirely on a Museum and that makes the short miss its potential but it's still Entertaining and Unintentionally funny if you look at it the other way and that's why I give it a 6!

Not the worst, but still a disgrace

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 8 February 2011]

Don't get me wrong, I love Tom and Jerry, but I hated It's Greek to Me-Ow! and almost all the Gene Dietch-directed cartoons. As far as It's Greek to Me-Ow! goes in terms of Tom and Jerry cartoons, it is not as bad as Switchin' Kitten or Sorry Safari, but that is not saying much, it's still a disgrace to the Tom and Jerry name.

The animation is terrible- the colours are very flat and the backgrounds and character designs get increasingly static. The music is very forgettable, and marred by some bizarre sound effects. Granted, the sound effects aren't as stomach-churning as the ones in Switchin' Kitten, but the inclusion of them here makes them pain for the ears.

The violence is also quite sickening and uncomfortable to watch, the pace is much too rushed and the story is very predictable. None of the characters are likable either, not even Tom and Jerry, in fact when it comes to Tom you feel sorry for him and feel nothing but hate for the supporting characters.

In conclusion, It's Greek to Me-Ow! is not the worst of the Tom and Jerry cartoons, but it is awful, unfunny, badly animated and just horrible to watch, and best avoided. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Another Deitch disaster.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 8 May 2017]

It's Greek to Me-ow! is set in ancient Greece, with Tom, who is living in a trash can, trying to catch Jerry, whose mouse-hole is positively palatial. Once again, Deitch's animation is extremely basic, with jerky character movement and sparse backgrounds, and the weak action (not many laughs to be had here) is accompanied by some truly horrible music and sound effects.

Good luck to anyone else brave enough to review the entire T&J catalogue—once you reach this stage in the series, you'll need it!

On first glance, this nightmarish picture . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 19 November 2022]

. . . seems to make absolutely no sense, filled with disjointed random acts of violence. However, those viewers aware of the fact that IT'S GREEK TO ME-OW! Was directed under duress by America's beloved creator of Tom Terrific--yes, the one and only Gene Val Gene--are more than willing to watch this Tom and Jerry episode at least three or four dozen times, to see what messages Gene the Valiant was attempting to sneak by his Red Commie KGB Kremlin handlers, who had tasked him with destroying the franchise through what appeared on the surface to be incoherent low-budget malarkey. If you look close enough, GREEK covers the JFK Administration from the Bay of Pigs debacle through the Cuban Missile Crisis, continuing with Russian operative Oswald's hit in Dallas and the former First Lady's injudicious choice of sun-bathing attire--or the lack thereof--on that yacht leading up to her shocking remarriage to a so-called Greek Tycoon. Look closely: It's ALL there!

Kitty "the Greek" Snyder - A Splarshy Review

[jacobstaggs · 9/10 · 2 February 2020]

The third entry in the Gene Deitch era of Tom and Jerry is not quite as Its predecessor Down and Outing but it's still a great cartoon that benefits from cheap yet stylized backgrounds, a decent character design for Tom, some great gags, and a "swift" pace. Some bits meld drawing and animation seamlessly with wonderful results like a scene where Tom escapes from some guards and then captures Jerry in a vase. I rate this cartoon a 9/10. It's great but would have benefited from characters' motivations being more fleshed out and clear.