Jerry and Jumbo

A little circus elephant ends up in the home of Tom and Jerry. When some strange things happen Tom thinks it is Jerry who causes them, but in fact it is the elephant. When Tom gets mad at Jerry the elephant helps the little mouse and they start working together.

The short starts a little boring but once the elephant dresses up as a mouse to give Tom a hard time it gets hilarious and I had a very good time.

Not a bad cartoon, and it does pick up after the setup. I'm surprised though that no one has commented on the unoriginality of using exactly the same plot device as the several Sylvester the cat and Hippety Hopper cartoons, where Sylvester mistakes a baby kangaroo for a giant mouse, gets beat up, goes crazy, etcetra, etcetera. I guess there's only so many ideas to be had for cat-mouse battles, so you gotta get 'em where you can? Then there's also that Tom and Jerry cartoon that copies another Looney Tunes even more precisely - Bugs Bunny as concert pianist fighting a mouse sleeping inside the piano, leading to chaos vs a proper formal recital. Tom and Jerry did the same thing a little later - even used the same piece of classical music! Makes me wonder what other ideas were "borrowed" from Looney Tunes. No matter. If it's done well, still a worthy short.

And that includes almost all cartoons animated in the years 1944-1952. Jerry and Jumbo was animated in 1951, but released in 1953. These cartoons had the best look/animation, still Tom & Jerry developed in that era few times: I would say 1944/45, next 1946/47, then the "classic" look 1947-1950, and 1951/52. Gags were great, not too cute like in later years and not too slow just like in the early years. The cartoons from first 3 years were with more than 8 minutes a little bit too long and not that fresh and naughty like the cartoons from 1944-52 with the great ideas.

Ps.: Rhapsody Rabbit was made the same year The Cat Concerto was made (1946): From Wikipedia "Both MGM and Warner Bros. accused each other of plagiarism, after both films were shown in the 1947 Academy Awards Ceremony. Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to a competing studio, who then plagiarized their rival's work. This remains uncertain even today: though Rhapsody Rabbit has an earlier MPAA approval number and release date, MGM's cartoons took longer to make." That one goes to an early review by another user.

Because baby elephant Jumbo masquerading as an overgrown Jerry is pretty much my spirit animal. Classic T&J short. Great ending

The cartoon does start off a tad too slow, and the story is on the predictable side. But Jerry and Jumbo is a rock-solid Tom and Jerry cartoon, that is both hilarious and cute. The animation is really nice and colourful as these cartoons usually are, and the music is delightful. The sight gags serve their purpose well too, the best being the running gag of Jumbo sucking things with his trunk with such powerful force, and the ending is very unexpected in a good way. The pacing is in general brisk and efficient, and the characters are great, the best actually being the very cute elephant Jumbo. Overall, a rock-solid cartoon with a lot going for it. 8/10 Bethany Cox