Calypso Cat

I was never crazy about 97% of the Tom and Jerry shorts, PERIOD. But "Calypso Cat" is one of the few exceptions.

When I saw this short for the first time in 1988 (I was on a business trip in Chicago and WTBS ran this short; Turner Entertainment Co. had just purchased the pre-1985 MGM movies and TV shows), I noticed something familiar in the style of the animation. Then I thought, "This Tom and Jerry looks Popeye-ish!" And I later discovered Gene Deitch, who produced some of those "Popeyes" and "Krazy Kat," produced "Calypso Cat."

Especially funny was when Tom tried to warm up to the white female cat after Jerry played his pranks on Tom (she thinks twice, smiles, and gives Tom her hand, after which they walk out of the boat onto the island). And somehow, that steel drum music the other cat played is reverberating through my mind right now, as when that cat used his drumsticks on Tom's head and it sounded like a steel drum!

And, long before Billy Ocean had a #1 hit of the same title in late 1984, the boat was named the "Carribean Queen" (which, obviously, went through my mind when I saw the name; I have the original Billy Ocean album that song's on).

All told, "Calypso Cat" is a likable cure for the common Tom and Jerry cartoon. I'd give it an 8.

This "Tom and Jerry" short from 1962 called "Calypso Cat" even though the animation is not great still the music and mood put the cartoon as watchable as it involves Tom being attracted to a female cat. And you guessed it things go haywire with the rivals as chases and clever outsmarts like moves are done! Overall one of the better early 60's "Tom and Jerry" shorts that they made watch you will enjoy!

Tom and Jerry are fighting each other on a cruise ship when Tom sees a pretty female cat and goes gaga. More than a little put out, Jerry does his best to get the cat's attention, but romance is all Tom has on his mind. When the cruise ship weighs anchor at a Caribbean island, Tom finds a love rival in the form of a steel-drum playing cat.

One good thing about Calypso Cat is that it is cartoon seven of the thirteen Gene Deitch episodes, meaning I'm more than halfway through. Hurrah.

While this one isn't quite as terrible Landing Stripling (my least favourite T&J caper so far), neither is it very good, with the jerky movement and surreal sound effects that could only have come from an Eastern European animation house. Long gone are the days when Tom and Jerry cartoons won Oscars!

The Caribbean cruise ship and island backgrounds help make CALYPSO CAT worth watching, but the plot is standard Tom and Jerry stuff with not a single original element to make it stand out from the other T&J cartoons. Jerry is a mouse aboard a cruise ship, determined to derail Tom's romance with a flirtatious cat. The usual games are played, with Jerry getting the worst of it--complete with consistent bops on the head and an array of hot foot gags.

Of course, he's also a loser in the love department when the cat walks off with an islander playing Calypso on a steel drum. Since none of the sight gags are original or memorable, it's a forgettable little item.

'Calypso Cat (1962)' looks about the same as most other 'Deitch'-era 'Tom and Jerry' toons: a far cry from the 'Hanna-Barbera' classics. The frame is flat and the motion within it is stiff and impact-less. What's more, the piece doesn't even have a decent story to distract from these sub-par visuals - like in, say, 'Buddies... Thicker Than Water (1962)'. The narrative doesn't make all that much sense, especially from a character-motivation stand-point, and it just sort of fizzles out. I mean, I suppose there's something to the idea that Jerry just wants attention from Tom, but it doesn't work when their fights are clearly more than just 'play'. Indeed, neither of the stars seem quite like themselves. Plus, the sparse and tinny soundtrack actually gives the short an off-putting and, even, creepy vibe. It's a let-down, for sure. 4/10