Filet Meow

My favorite Tom & Jerry cartoons are those done by Hanna-Barbera (1940-1958) and Chuck Jones from Looney Tunes (1963-1967). You know, I have heard some negativity about the Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry shorts, but personally, I love 'em.

This is one of my favorite Chuck Jones Tom & Jerry shorts. It kind of shows a simple plot: Jerry tries to protect a beautiful girl, Goldfish, who almost looks like Cleo from Disney's "Pinocchio," from a hungry Tom. I love the scene where Tom removes the pin that Jerry stuck him with from his behind, but then he realizes he is stuck in a trash can. He pops his arms and eyes out of the can and tries to use the pin to free himself, but it doesn't work on the steel. Tom grabs an axe and rushes into the house. Jerry is terrified at the sight of "the evil trash monster" and runs toward his hole, suffering numerous near misses from the axe. Tom continues chopping at the hole, but Jerry inserts Tom's tail in the axe's path. Tom soon realizes that he's cut up his own tail and screws it back on before he hears Jerry whistling at him. I love the tearful mumblings Tom makes while screwing the tail pieces together.

So anyway, I love this cartoon.

Jerry fancies a sexy goldfish (with blonde 'hair', blue eye-shadow and pink lipstick) and tries to protect her from a hungry Tom.

After the lamentable Gene Deitch cartoons, I began the Chuck Jones era of Tom and Jerry with just a little optimism. I've slowly come to realise that, although not quite as bad as Deitch, Jones is totally unsuited to the T&J format, his animation and sense of humour completely at odds with the characters.

Filet Meow isn't totally without merit, with at least one funny moment where Tom siphons a shark from a bath-tub, but as a huge fan of the series earlier shorts (some of which won Oscars!), I cannot help but feel disappointed by the rather scrappy animation (Tom's underwater scene being particularly poor) and the generally weak gags.

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

The director here is Abe Levitow, not Chuck Jones. Jones is the producer only, as he apparently is for most of this era of Tom and Jerry cartoons. I've started streaming these and I must have gotten lucky that the first few I've seen Jones was the sole director. Those couple were pretty good! This one, and the several others so far not by Jones alone are decidedly mediocre.

Everything is just off. Timing, which makes or breaks comedy, is off. Character's faces at times don't accurately convey their mental state, so you're left to wonder what they're thinking. Sure there's chasing and hijinks, but it's not all that funny. It's just ... there. The characters look good (though the animation can be pretty limited) and this cartoon in particular has a nice jazzy soundtrack. So not everything is terrible. It's just quite bland.

Jones imbued both Tom and Jerry with personality in his couple shorts. The others, including this one, Filet Meow, they're just going through the motions. Maybe that's what people like about Tom and Jerry, endless chases and recycled sight gags? For me, there's no comparison. Give me a genuine Chuck Jones effort. The earlier Hanna Barbera Tom and Jerry's beat these easily.

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer, I have loved Tom and Jerry since I was 6 and I still love them now. This cartoon is mediocre, with lacklustre animation, uneven pacing and choppy editing. Plus the story is not exactly unfamiliar territory. However, the music is jazzy and upbeat, there are some interesting gags especially the one with the shark and the goldfish is really cute and beautiful. And Tom and Jerry are always watchable, Tom isn't quite himself but Jerry is as cunning as ever.

So overall, this is hardly Tom and Jerry's best cartoon, but it is not their worst either, I have always considered Switchin' Kitten and Carmen Get It! worse. 6/10 Bethany Cox