Cat Fishin'

Even if the story is rather predictable, Cat Fishin' is still very entertaining. It moves quickly, has exquisitely rendered animation and fun music. And Tom, Jerry and Spike seem to be enjoying themselves immensely, though you feel really sorry for Spike, particularly when the fish abruptly wakes him up. But it is the barracuda-like fish who steals the show from under the three lovable characters, as he foils Tom's fishy exploits in a vicious kind of way. The ending is appropriate and entertaining as is usually the case with Tom and Jerry. Overall, occasionally predictable, but a lot of fun, that is elevated by the antics of the fish. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Spike the dog is guarding a watering hole, but he appears to be sleeping on the job. So Tom the cat uses the chance to sneak in hoping to get a little fishing in, using Jerry the mouse as bait of course. But thanks to an over eager fish who wants the mouse badly things don't go as planned. As the fish inadvertently wakes Butch up to get the drop on Tom. I mentioned in an earlier review how I didn't really like the Buzzard/Vulture in Flirty Birdy, well the same can be said about the fish in this one. It's an OK short, but not one of the better ones. This cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry"

My Grade: B-

Tom sneaks into a secluded area for some fish poaching. The lake is guarded by Spike, but Tom has his same old tricks for taking care of him. In his bait box he has a captured Jerry, who he promptly disguises as a worm and casts into the lake.

Some horrible sort of Gator/Fish creature pops up and decides he'd really like to get a bite of Jerry, but he'll be damned if he's gonna let Tom catch him.

There are a couple of funny moments in this cartoon but it's mostly just generic stuff and recycled gags. The ending isn't really up to much either, it's all just plain uninspired.

We see signs on a fence that say, "Keep Out," "No Tresspassing," "No Fishing," and "Beware Of The Dog." The latter is the familiar "Spike," the big bulldog who sometimes gets into it with Tom.

Anyway, forget the dog and the signs: Tom wants to go fishing. He gets by the big dog - but not without some tense and funny moments - and sits on the dock and opens his tackle box. Under the heading of "live bait," is Jerry, asleep under his blanket. Tom picks him, of course, and Jerry - dresses as bait with a feathered skirt - is dangled in the water. However, that water is too cold for our "bait," so Jerry scampers back up the pole and back into bed.

Pictured after that are Tom's fishing exploits and his battles not only with Jerry but with a huge barracuda-like fish and, back again with Spike. The most vicious of the three is the fish. Overall, this is very entertaining from the get-go and it has an appropriate ending.

Tom goes fishing and plans to use Jerry as live bait to catch the fishes.

First he has to evade Spike the bulldog. That is easily done as he is snoozing allowing Tom to past by.

However Jerry is unwilling to be fish food, it leaves both Jerry and Spike with a sore head.

This is a frenetic cartoon with a better relationship between the cat and mouse pair.

It is Spike who is the antagonist along with some of the fishes.

The animation is good with some funny sequences.

Kids will certainly enjoy this cartoon. Adults might find it a little too straightforward lacking a little bit of zaniness.