Muscle Beach Tom

I really wish that the animators on Hanna-Barbera's Tom and Jerry cartoons were allowed to flex their artistic muscles as much as in the days of Fred Quimby: the animation on display here is terribly weak by comparison, especially those horrible backgrounds (I promise this is the last time that I mention them).

As far as the action goes, it's pretty standard fare for the cat and mouse duo: Tom pays a visit to muscle beach with a sexy lady cat, but must compete for her attention against alley cat Butch, who is lifting weights. Meanwhile, Jerry is helping himself to Tom's picnic. Cue lots of mildly amusing slapstick gags and general silliness.

As has been the case in previous T&J capers, Jerry is the one who winds up spending quality time with the lady cat (which has always struck me as weird), although he too ends up making a fool of himself by trying to lift two heavy tomatoes!

This is based on the theme of Tom wanting to impress one of the girls. Tom creates most of the trouble for himself, with only some interference from Jerry. Not a typical Tom & Jerry cartoon, but very predictable.

This cartoon is one of the series of somewhat crudely done cartoons. I prefer the 1940's Tom & Jerry animation style.

The story may be a tad thin, but Muscle Beach Tom is still a very fun Tom and Jerry cartoon. The sight gags are plentiful, and are delivered at breakneck pace and is guaranteed to wear you out from laughing so much. The animation while not always as fluid as I would have liked, is still very good with some great colours especially. The music has plenty of energy and is quite lively. Tom is great, as is his rival cat and cunning Jerry too, while the female cat is stunning. Despite the slightly thin story, there were very few/next to none lame parts or any parts that felt predictable. Overall, while not their best it is still great fun and definitely worth watching. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"Muscle Beach," an area near Los Angeles, must have really begun to get popular in the mid 1950s because it's featured here on this cartoon, and then in the '60s on a Pink Panther and on feature films like "Muscle Beach Party," etc. Since I don't live near L.A., I can't tell you how popular that area (Venice Beach, if I recall) is today.

Nonetheless, it made for some wild cartoons like this one, ones in which our hero would compete with another guy to see how strong they were, both trying to impress some female. Here, Tom and a black cat go at each other non-stop.

Jerry also is in on the mix, but as a third and supporting "player." All three take their lumps, and dish out the pain, too. It's non-stop sight gags that will wear you out by the end.

This is presented in the widescreen CinemaScope and is part of Disc 2 of the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume Two DVD.