Un tranquillo pic-nic

Spike and Tyke are getting ready to go on a picnic—sorry… a pic-a-nic—when Jerry hides in their hamper. Tom spends the rest of this rather routine short trying to get his hands on the mouse, but invariably winds up being hounded by an understandably upset Spike.

Pup on a Picnic is rather predictable nonsense, although nice bright and colourful animation goes some way to compensate for the predictable antics of cat, mouse and dogs. The cartoon's best gag is a simple one: Tom's pathetic apologetic laugh when he is caught red handed, although the marching ants that appear at the end of the cartoon are quite fun too.

The "joke" here is Jerry hiding in a picnic basket and Tom trying to get him out of there. It all starts when bulldog "Spike" takes his young son "Tyke" on a picnic. Just before they leave, Tom comes racing around the corner chasing Jerry, as usual. The mouse spots the basket and jumps in it. Tom goes through the basket, emptying all the food but Spike interrupts before the cat finds the mouse.

This is what goes on for the whole cartoon as Tom follows the dogs and the picnic basket to the woods. You can guess most of the rest. Most of the sight gags are decent: not spectacular, but entertaining enough. A nice twist occurs near the end when an army of ants spots the food and gets in on the fun.

Overall, slightly-better than average.

I have made no secret of loving Tom and Jerry, and I was not disappointed with Pup on a Picnic. I do agree the story is only reasonable here, but it was somewhat pleasant too. Even with the story not being as good it could have been, everything else was fine. I loved the animation especially, it was really colourful and beautiful. Another delight was the music, I love good music when it comes to cartoons and I was not disappointed here. The sight gags all work too, whether it is the moving sandwich or Tom's failed attempts to get Jerry from the picnic basket(but of course that little mouse is too crafty for him), and the ending with the ants and the food was a funny touch. It is great to see Spike, and his son is really cute. And of course, Tom and Jerry are wonderful as well as per usual. Overall, a really pleasant Tom and Jerry cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox