Um Bichano em Maus Lençóis

Tom And Jerry has been a historical part of many childhoods, including the childhood of the 15 year-old geek writing this review. Many generations of children in the present day are forced to soak up the blandness and laziness of modern cartoons, such as The Amazing World Of Gumball, Phineas And Ferb, Teen Titans Go!(my lord....), Sanjay And Craig, and so on. I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't enjoying them as much as the heads of Hollywood think they are, but if there's one thing I learnt from the animation format in all my life, I found that Tom And Jerry is much more significant than any mainstream Saturday morning cartoon, both historically and in my humble opinion. Take Puss Gets The Boot- the first of several shorts of the Tom And Jerry series, it might be completely different from most Tom And Jerry cartoons you normally see on TV, but I blame that on Cartoon Network's executives and chairman. However, you must remember the theory of evolution- change over time. Throughout the years, the animation in Tom And Jerry has improved in designs and textures, the number of characters have increased, the music has gone more complex, the list goes on. In Puss Gets The Boot, the characters look a little scruffier and less simplistic than the later shorts, Tom meows instead of yelping in pain(fun fact: the voice actor of Donald Duck at the time lended the screeching of Tom's character), and there's more of a reliance on African American stereotypes. What makes this short film so satisfying is that it shows that even in the beginning, Tom And Jerry still had it's charms of seeing this poor cat always failing to get what he desires, and the supposedly innocent little mouse getting the better end of the deal. This may be very well one of the best Tom And Jerry shorts, even if it had differences in what you'd usually see. Also, Mammy Two-Shoes is the stealer of the show, hearing her yell "O-U-W-T, out!" is just hilarious!

On the 20th of February in the year 1940 William Hanna and Joseph Barbera along side Rudolph Ising did a little short about a cat chasing a mouse who gets the tables turned around. The premise seemed simple enough considering the fact that most Warner Bros. Cartoons were like that. But with the talent of Hanna-Barbera simple premise was turned into gold and they soon had a successful short and an Oscar Nomination. Since at the time MGM cartoons were either stupid musicals or Barney Bear shorts. The short "Puss Gets the Boot" seemed like good competition for the Warner shorts. So soon after Hanna-Barbera found themselves working on the wonderful Tom and Jerry shorts which they would continue to make for the next 15 years!

This cartoon itself is not the best but it's still funny and contains a lot of great gags.

4(****)out of 4(****)stars

A Great Start for the Tom and Jerry shorts!

This short, nominated for an Oscar it should have won in 1940, is the first Tom and Jerry, for all that the cat's name is "Jasper". The Tom and Jerry cartoons generally break down into one of four eras: the early ones, when Rudolf Ising was involved, then the ones that Hanna and Barbera did with Fred Quimby producing, then the ones Chuck Jones did and finally the Gene Deitch efforts. Each had a different look and feel to them that make them instantly recognizable and unmistakable as to who did them. But the most remarkable transformation in appearance and style was the change between the early ones and the ones in the later 1940s. In every way, it's quite a change. This is the best of the early ones. Most recommended.

This is a historic cartoon in that it's the first ever Tom and Jerry. Actually, it's not even called that because Tom is "Jasper" in this one, and he looks different. His face is bigger and fuzzier. Actually, his whole body is furrier.

When you are used to seeing these Looney Tunes cartoons from mostly the late '40s through the 1950s and then you see the beginning years, like in Bugs Bunny's case, it's strange to see how they look. We get comfortable and used to seeing our "friends" a certain way, so I always prefer that over these early renditions of a character. I've said the same about Bugs and Daffy Duck.

Audio-wise, too, this is different in that Tom, when injured, makes screeching noises like an actual cat, which is not the norm for him.

However, the joke in this cartoon is one that they would use over and over, no matter who was doing the writing or animating: the cat being told "if this happens one more time, you're outta here..." and Jerry hearing that and planning to make sure that happens. In this debut cartoon the threat by the maid and the threat is that if "Jasper" breaks one more object in the house, he's toast.

For audiences in 1940, I'm sure this was very entertaining but for those of us who have seen at least 40-50 Tom and Jerry episodes, this is nothing we haven't seen done before and done much better. Overall: not bad but nothing special except for historical value.

I prefer them to be called Tom and Jerry. This cartoon was made way back in 1940 and features the very first appearance of the troublesome twosome. Though they look rather different.

I guess Hannah-Barbera didn't know, at the time, what a massive franchise they had in their hands. Puss gets the Boot almost seems like a one-off short. Granted, Tom and Jerry never really did anything else than chase, and that's exactly what they do here.

It also features the Tom's owner (or owners slave), the highly racist and so un-PC black woman with the stripey socks. This would never be allowed today unless in satire. How glorious the early 20th century was.