Rock 'n' Rodent

Having hit rock bottom with Guided Mouse-Ille, director Abe Levitow bounces back with this lively, if not wholly original short that sees Tom's sleep disturbed by Jerry and his hep pals as they play loud jazz music in a basement nightclub.

The swinging music definitely helps this one to trundle along at a decent lick, but Levitow also manages to throw in some well timed laughs, the occasional genuinely inspired moment (Jerry's shower—a wrench on a water pipe—is pure genius) and suitably colourful visuals. Not the greatest entry in the entire Tom and Jerry canon, but after the wreck that was Guided Mouse-Ille, it's actually something of a minor miracle.

Now Rock 'n' Rodent definitely could have been better, but this is actually in my opinion one of the better post-60s Tom and Jerry cartoons. There have certainly been a lot worse, especially Switchin' Kitten, but there have been better as well, I personally would put The Cat Concerto, Mice Follies, The Little Orphan and Neapolitan Mouse above this. Rock n' Rodent does have its problems, the animation is not great, lacking solidity and vibrancy, the pacing is uneven and the ending did have a "that's it?" factor about it. However, the story is good and original enough and I loved the concept. Plus there were some nice visuals, such as the descending down to the mouse nightclub. The soundtrack is upbeat and catchy and there are some funny visual gags where I did feel sorry for Tom. So overall, it wasn't brilliant, but it isn't terrible either. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Tom can't sleep cause Jerry is up all night at a club making a ruckus. This is one of the shorts i don't like. Tom has no real foil in this one. He hardly interacts with Jerry at all & the "hep" music club just makes this one feel more dated then episodes that were made even a decade prior.