Pet Peeve

At about 1954 or so, MGM decided to cut costs so they began using cheaply drawn backgrounds as well as simpler animation in their cartoons. While the cartoons were still decent, they were noticeably worse that the great MGM cartoons of the mid to late 1940s. Despite this, PET PEEVE is still a very good cartoon, as it is everything a person usually wants in a Tom and Jerry cartoon--violent.

Spike, Tom and Jerry all live in the same home. The home owners are pretty awful people because they decide that the best way to deal with mounting bills is to get rid or Spike or Tom...but which one? Well, this problem is taken firmly in hand by Spike and Tom who spend most of the film beating the crap out of each other to win their owners' love! Funny and action-packed--this one's a keeper.

Although the Cinemascope Era had many problems such as Cheaper Animation and Drawings, it also made it possible for us to enjoy the duo in Full Screen despite the fact that it was more Difficult and Time consuming to produce cartoons under this format.

Many consider that this era was the one that caused the decline of the Series, and that is true!, but it was not at the beginning of the Cinemascope era since in the beginning there were good shorts like this but after 1956 the quality was varying until that in 1958 the classic era ended with a mediocre short due to budget cuts.

The short revolves around the fact that Tom's new owners (George and Joan) do not like the idea of having to spend large sums of money based on pet food, so after a brief discussion they decide that one of them He will stay at home!, and the 2 being Useful can't decide which one will go so they say that the first to catch Jerry is the one who stays home!.

Despite how Cheap the Animation and Backgrounds are, the Short is still smart like the previous Tom and Jerry Cartoons, the Jokes are quite clever and funny in addition to the fairly original Plot that makes this short unique, we have already seen Tom will fight with others to catch Jerry Mouse like he did with Butch but here things are softer and not as violent as in other cartoons, the violence is not as high as in other shorts but it's still enough and fun to watch!.

The Animation has been Medium Diluted and is no longer as detailed and fluid as before but it still looks pretty good, Thanks to the Cinemascope we can see this in Full Screen and it's a complete pleasure to do it, the Character Designs are just as good and Beautiful as before and still well drawn, the Backgrounds, despite being empty, are elegantly Colored and pleasing to the eye.

The Budget Cuts did not harm the music!, Scott Bradley continues to provide Beautiful and Quality music as always and continues to look good in the environment, some scenes in which music plays an important role are Where Tom and Spike fight with Swords and basically throughout the short!.

June Foray and Daws Butler provide pretty good voices to the New Owners of Tom, George and Joan, also both are a pretty good replacement for Mamy Two Shoes.

The sound effects are still nice and look good on stage.

George and Joan these are a direct replacement for Mammy Two Shoes it was a great character but had to be Retired due to Racial issues. And that in my opinion is not a racial stereotype since she proved to be a good owner of Tom and reprimanded him precisely in addition to demonstrating to be an Ordinary and Responsible Person who at the same time had fun when she could but unfortunately she had to be Withdrawn from the Program, George and Joan are excellent replacements for Mammy as they also prove to be Responsible People who even though they want to get rid of one of their pets they still love them.

Pet Peeve is a Great Tom and Jerry Short that shows us an Original Plot that is well handled and has great Action sequences such as the scene where Spike and Tom fight with swords and in itself, the whole chase in general, this short frame the first appearance of Tom's new owners who were a Pretty Good replacement for Mammy, being a short duration cartoon it has a fast pace but in that time there are many memorable and funny gags.

In itself, Pet Peeve is one of the best shorts of the Cinemascope Era and a great short of Tom and Jerry in General, its Plot is Original and has funny Gags and Animation although Degraded quite Decent, the Character Designs are still seen good and the humor is just as good as always!.

For everything I said above Pet Peeve gets a 9.

Now I don't think this is Tom and Jerry's best, but it is still very clever and funny. The animation does look cheaper than it does in other Tom and Jerry cartoons, but it wasn't bad don't get me wrong, it just lacked the vibrancy and sophistication that made the best of the best so good. The music is still very good, but what made the cartoon so fun were the sight gags, there are a lot of them and they all work especially the end one, when I saw it for the first time a while ago I wasn't expecting that. The story is pretty routine, but it still works I think, and the small amount of voice work from Daws Butler and June Foray is very effective. Tom, Jerry and Spike are still likable thank goodness. Overall, not brilliant but entertaining and ticks almost all the right boxes. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Tom and Spike, who eat rather a lot of food, fear for their lives when their master and mistress decide to cut down their overheads by ejecting one from the household. After not being able to decide which one to remove, they make a bet: the one that catches Jerry will get to stay in the house, while the other will get his marching orders. Very amusing, but not a classic, and it was becoming apparent by the looks of the characters that even MGM's animation studio was being forced to make some cuts to its animation output; it's most noticeable in the rather straight drawing of the master (what you can see of him, anyway) and the way the rolled-up rug gets cut up in such even sections. Still enjoyable, though.

There certainly are a number of changes in this 1954 Tom and Jerry cartoon, that one sees in the first few minutes.

First, it was odd to see a Tom and Jerry cartoon in 2.55:1 widescreen Cinemascope, but that was the rage back in the middle '50s. Droopy and a few other cartoons also were seen in this format.

Then we see Tom the cat and Spike the bulldog as "partner," both living inside the same house and apparently friends.

The cartoon had one basic thing the same: good humor with some funny sight gags and some clever jokes, starting off by showing how Spike and Tom make and eat sandwiches. Then, after we hear their owners discuss that they can't afford to keep both a dog and a cat, we see both of them spring into action to prove their worth. Those scenes are very funny, with both of them going overboard to show their domestic talents and affection for who wants them (cat- to-female and dog-to-male.)

After that, we really go back into familiar territory as their masters say whoever catches the mouse can stay. Jerry changes hands about 10 times as the two pets compete for him and most of the jokes are good, with a surprise ending, too. This is highly recommended for the humor content.