Les Mangeurs d'oiseaux anonymes

Sylvester is about to eat Tweety when he is confronted by another cat. That other cat tells Sylvester that he should join Birds Anonymous to work out his compulsion. Sylvester joins the group and it even seems to work.

This won an Oscar. I don't know why. Maybe the jury pool are all AA members. This is fine. The story is fine except for one issue. For somebody to be addicted, they have to have some of their addictions. You can't be addicted to drugs if you've never taken any. As far as I can tell, Sylvester has never eaten a bird. Maybe he should get treatment for stalking. That would make more sense.

I do like the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons in general, Tweety I do like when he is active and not nothing more than a plot device, but I love Sylvester who always excels at providing the laughs. Birds Anonymous is a contender for their best cartoon. Tweety is underused and is more a plot device here, but this is one instance where this works, because Sylvester is so good and delightful to watch. The story is reminiscent of a spoof while also stepping away from the usual formula in this set of cartoons, and it is fast-paced and energetic, helped by the witty writing, infectious music and delightful gags, while the animation is of fluid and colourful quality and the opening sequence is wonderful and almost Hitchcockian. Mel Blanc does a brilliant job with the voices and it shows perfectly that it was apparently his favourite WB cartoon. Overall, wonderful and probably the best of this cartoon duo. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Never quite able to get the better of Tweety, Sylvester is starting to get increasingly desperate - a fact spotted by his friend Sam who helps him by taking him to a BA (Birds Anonymous) meeting where cats try to kick their addictions and live side by side with birds. However, when he tries to go cold turkey (or cold Tweety) he finds that his temptations are almost too much to bare.

Generally I find the short films involving Sylvester and Tweety to be rather difficult to totally enjoy. Part of the problem is that I find Tweety quite annoying and, on top of that, often too much time is spent on him and not enough on the physical work of Sylvester. However the better cartoons of theirs are the ones where they have a twist to them that makes them stand out. Such is the case here where the twist is the framework of Sylvester's addiction and his attempts to kick it. The material uses this really well and includes a clever spoof of AA meetings and several other nice touches as well as a bit of the usual stuff between Tweety and Sylvester. The punchline is funny and a good close to a good short.

Winning an Oscar for the pair, this is one of the most fun Tweety cartoons I've seen and the characters play their part really well. Sylvester is great fun and delivers a really good performance where he hams it up as a junkie undergoing withdrawal symptoms. Tweety is mercifully underused and lets Sylvester do all the work - a wise decision considering just how good he is here. The addition of Sam is funny and contributes to the big finish.

Overall a worthy Oscar winner for the pair as it is better than most of their other shorts and, as with all their best stuff, has less Tweety, good material and a strong performance from Sylvester. Great fun!

This is a delightful cartoon and one of the most effective and entertaining Sylvester and Tweety cartoons Warner Brothers did. The B. A. meeting is inspired parody and Sylvester's attempts to kick the "bird habit" are exceptionally funny. Tweety's closing line is the perfect capper to a wonderful ending. Won a well-earned Oscar. Shows frequently on Cartoon Network. Highly recommended.

Perhaps, since there are hundreds of these featuring Bosco, Goofy Gophers, H. Hawk, Col. Shuffle, Buddy, Foghorn Leghorn, Gabby Goat, Pete Puma, Nasty Canasta, Sniffles, Speedy Gonzales, Hector the Bulldog, Pepe Le Pew, Melissa Duck, Slowpoke Rodriguez, Hubie & Bertie, Black Jack Shellac, Beaky Buzzard, Angus Mac Roary, Foxy, Granny, Witch Hazel, Rocky & Mugsy, Penelope Cat, Miss Priscilla Hen, Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier. However, it is quite important to remember that though BIRDS ANONYMOUS was far worthier of a gelded statuette award than any of the umpteen Tom & Jerry's so honored, it pales in comparison to hundreds of OTHER Looney Tunes, including the universally acclaimed Best Animated Short of All-Time, Bugs Bunny and Elmer's classic WHAT'S OPERA, DOC?