Mit Leib und Seele

Not only the best Tom and Jerry film, but the best animated short I've ever seen. The timing, the animation, the character expressions, the sound effects... Not one false note. This one leaves me in stitches every time.

After the previous years success with Jasper & Jinx it was inevitable that more shorts would follow, here however they've had a name change to the more familiar Tom & Jerry.

Here we see Tom stopping Jerry from taking the cheese from the fridge during the middle of the night. But you know how this plays out, the calamitous cat isn't going to find the deed easy.

Once again the animation is fantastic for its time and both characters (Especially Tom) look a little bit different. Regardless it's familiar charming stuff, even if it is entirely predictable.

Charming stuff, but I always feel bad for Tom.

The Good:

Looks great

Charming

The Bad:

More of the same

The Midnight Snack (1941)

*** (out of 4)

THE MIDNIGHT SNACK would be the second Tom and Jerry cartoon but the first to use those names. The story has Jerry sneaking into the icebox for some cheese but when Tom catches him he decides to add some "weight" to make Jerry struggle. From here it's an all out war as Tom once again tortures the poor mouse until the maid comes to see what's going on. THE MIDNIGHT SNACK isn't the best film in the series but if you're a fan then there are enough clever moments to make it worth viewing. The highlight is some early creativity, which includes some bread being used as steps as Jerry is forced to work for his meal. There's a lot of fun action throughout as glasses are broken and various other bits of damage done.

If I'm not mistaken this is the third Tom and Jerry short and there is something about animated shorts that the very early appearances of the characters are usually not like their familiar presence. In a way early shorts are like the first draft of a script! While Jerry here is still the same Jerry we all know and love Tom however, is not the devilish cat we know. Instead here he is a playful cat just joking around with Jerry. In a way Jerry is the bad guy of this short because he didn't have a sense of humor!

3(***)out of 4(****)stars

Getting everything right in the second entry in a series isn't too shabby an achievement!! This film's three times as good as "Puss Gets The Boot." The balance of the three characterizations is just right, and the story cements both Tom's personality as a lovable scoundrel & Jerry's as being a put-upon character who only eventually gets the upper hand. And forget about the early, "ugly" design of Tom--remember, it's characterization, story and comedy timing that count here. Of course, when Tex Avery entered MGM, the series would be adopting many of his methods of freneticism and outrageousness......but when all's said & done, a cartoon like THIS is really ALL I NEED.