Jugando a los Bolos

This is one of the early Tom & Jerry cartoons and also one of the best. The animation is superb and extremely well done. The antics of both Tom and Jerry as they try to outwit each other are classic. The parts of Tom trying to bowl with a ball that's much too heavy for him are some of the most fluid and natural looking animation of the entire time period. This and another two other sports shorts they made (Tennis Chumps, 1949, and Cue Ball Cat, 1950) have to be on list of top Tom & Jerry cartoons ever. Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

For at least one reason, this was better than the rest of these 1942 Tom and Jerry cartoons: they got out of their house. With new surroundings - in this case, a bowling alley, - it allowed for different and better gags than the normal house scenes.

This starts off slowly, however, and I wondered if it was every going to produce some laughs, but it did, especially with Tom caught in the automatic pinsetter and then the caravan of bowling bowls was pictured as a train. Decent, overall, with the really clever stuff to come in a couple of years. This would have been much better, let's say, in 1945, with crazier stunts.

Nonetheless, this cartoons starts to set the stage for the really funny (and violent) material that also was to come.

While it is slow in pace to begin with, Bowling Alley-Cat is still very enjoyable. It doesn't belong in the best of their cartoons, but in my opinion it is one of their better early ones. For one thing, the animation is lovely, crisp and clean and smooth in general. True, Tom looks like a kitten here, but for 1942 this animation was not bad at all, quite the contrary. The music was a delight, hearing the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty was a real plus, and the sight gags were both original and funny. Also I loved this because it was different, it all takes place in a bowling alley rather than the house, it was really nice to see something new once in a while. Overall, different and enjoyable, definitely worth the watch. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Bowling Alley-Cat is the very first in a series of Tom and Jerry cartoons about sports. This cartoon is where I think, they finally really nail the pacing. The jokes flow naturally, the cartoon is constantly exciting, and the jokes are very good. The most entertaining was definitely when Tom runs to the lobby to try to catch the bowling ball. It is consistently entertaining, but this cartoon doesn't really have the artistry of some later entries. Despite lacking in that department, the cartoon is very consistent. It is able to overall remain funny throughout. I just don't like the color of Tom, and some jokes are just ok. Other than that, a very solid cartoon.

This is one of the first Tom and Jerry shorts that doesn't take place inside a generic 1940s house but inside, as the title would suggest, a bowling alley. This new environment allows for fresher gags and more imagination. There are some inventive sequences and it doesn't resort to the ancient clichés of Jerry plugging Tom's tail into a power socket or putting his tail in a mousetrap.

There are no humans to be seen at all and it appears that Tom and Jerry at alone in the bowling alley. Which is good. I find that extra characters such as stray cats and unseen humans (including the staggeringly un-offensive Mammy-Two-Shoes) to be a distraction. New locations, new torture devices and no diversions would make Tom and Jerry funny every single time. Too bad they mostly never really turned out that way.