La vigilia di Natale

The Night Before Christmas is one cutest holiday cartoon past and present. I recently saw this on Cartoon Network late at night. I remember 15 or more years the TV would not play cartoons at a certain time. It is refreshing to see this cartoon late at night on Christmas Eve.

Cartoon about a cat and a mouse fighting each other on Christmas Eve. I personally never liked Tom & Jerry. I found their cartoons way too violent and mean-spirited to enjoy. Also I'm a cat lover and seeing the poor cat constantly being tortured was not fun. I realize these are just cartoon characters but still...

However I DID like this. It was in bright beautiful colors (in the TCM print at least) and the violence was toned down. Also the two of them do call a truce at the end. Short, colorful and a little sweet. What surprised me is that this was supervised by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. This is a lot better than the truly awful animation they did on "The Flintstones".

It is the night before Christmas and Tom and Jerry have their usual fight. After a while Jerry goes outside and Tom makes sure that Jerry can't get back in. After a while Tom feels guilty and with the spirit of Christmas he lets Jerry back in. This is a cute short with Tom and Jerry with the heart on the right place. The start is also pretty funny.

I am a big fan of Tom and Jerry and I love Christmas-themed cartoons/films, so this a match made in heaven I thought. And I was right, I loved The Night Before Christmas, it has everything a Tom and Jerry cartoon should have. Plus it is heartwarming, funny and charming.

The animation is beautiful, the backgrounds are fluid, the colours look really nice and the characters are drawn well, even Tom who looks quite cute. The music is also sweet, the sight gags are funny, the story packs an emotional punch for me especially at the end, which is one of my favourite Tom and Jerry endings and both Tom and Jerry are wonderful to watch and very likable.

Overall, for any Tom and Jerry fan, this is a must watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon, from early on in the evolution of Tom and Jerry, isn't quite as polished as later efforts, but it's definitely one of my favourite episodes, thanks to the fact that the BBC showed it practically every Christmas Eve as I was growing up.

It's the night before Christmas, and Jerry sneaks out of his hole to play with the presents under the tree. Tom, awakened by the cheeky rodent's fun and games, tries to stop him and chaos ensues.

Perfect Xmas entertainment for the whole family, this one is full of seasonal spirit and goodwill and ends up with the cat and mouse reconciling their differences for Christmas.