... even as a small child I knew the difference between these later attempts at the Tom and Jerry format and the peak years of the Quimby productions.
The artwork is scratchier, less fluid, and there's a notable lack of kinetic flow to the violence. The best Tom and Jerry cartoons had them using objects around them to inflict greater and more surreal pain on one another... here the cartoon focuses on the objects themselves, such as a toy train, at the expense of some cat on mouse ultraviolence. Even when we do see the physical assaults the two lay on each other, it's tempered with a more realistic coding... Tom's extended tail lasting for several frames, for example, rather than being immediately shook off.
Most of it is just inexplicably mediocre, a substandard calibre of which you can't quite put your finger on. But a lot of it is to do with charm, and whereas the original series could sometimes get too self-consciously cute, this one tries to be post-modern, with Tom's gazes to the viewer a distraction.
Ultimately, there's no pace, flow or even soul to this one. It's just a series of uninvolving set-pieces, with an inexplicable ending that neither resolves the story adequately or amuses. Stick to stuff like Cue Ball Cat (1950)... you'll be glad you did.
The artwork is scratchier, less fluid, and there's a notable lack of kinetic flow to the violence. The best Tom and Jerry cartoons had them using objects around them to inflict greater and more surreal pain on one another... here the cartoon focuses on the objects themselves, such as a toy train, at the expense of some cat on mouse ultraviolence. Even when we do see the physical assaults the two lay on each other, it's tempered with a more realistic coding... Tom's extended tail lasting for several frames, for example, rather than being immediately shook off.
Most of it is just inexplicably mediocre, a substandard calibre of which you can't quite put your finger on. But a lot of it is to do with charm, and whereas the original series could sometimes get too self-consciously cute, this one tries to be post-modern, with Tom's gazes to the viewer a distraction.
Ultimately, there's no pace, flow or even soul to this one. It's just a series of uninvolving set-pieces, with an inexplicable ending that neither resolves the story adequately or amuses. Stick to stuff like Cue Ball Cat (1950)... you'll be glad you did.
