There's no denying that Chuck Jones' animation is slick
far better than Gene Deitch's, but by this episode, only his fourth, the quality of Jones' content—the story lines and the gags—are already in decline. I sure hope that he doesn't sink to the depths of Deitch's cartoons.
Much Ado About Mousing takes place in a harbour. Tom is on a jetty fishing for mice, using cheese as bait. Soon enough, he catches a rodent, Jerry, but the mouse isn't about to make things easy for Tom, escaping capture and landing Tom in trouble with a big dog.
The action is predictable and repetitive (Tom turned into a bowling ball and getting a crab on his tail), genuine laughs are thin on the ground and I'm still struggling with the look of Tom and Jerry, which is nothing like the original cartoons of the '40s and '50s.
4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.
