Love Me, Love My Mouse

So sue me for actually liking this, but while Love Me, Love My Mouse isn't entirely exceptional, it is a heck more enjoyable than something like the abysmal Swicthin' Kitten. The story is predictable, the cartoon too short and I am not a fan of the ending either. However, the animation isn't actually too bad, not brilliant but it is an improvement over the animation in other Chuck Jones-directed Tom and Jerry cartoons I have seen. I wasn't a fan of how Toots was drawn, she seemed too masculine in alternative to the feminine and angelic cat she was in the Hanna Barbera cartoons, but the backgrounds have enough vibrancy to them and Tom and Jerry are not too badly drawn either. The music is good, the pacing is fine and the sight gags are interesting and funny. Overall, I liked it, it isn't outstanding but I would certainly watch it over Swicthin' Kitten. 7/10 Bethany Cox

After the horrible T and J cartoons of Gene Deitch put a nasty dent in the series, MGM had the smarts to show him the door and in his place hire one of the geniuses of animation, Chuck Jones, to finish out the series. Whereas Deitch didn't have a clue about how to treat Tom (or Jerry for that matter) Jones did. He understood that sometimes that that cat just needed to one-up the little rodent.

In this one Tom presents Jerry as a gift (or rather a snack) for his girlfriend Tootles - or Toots as she was also called - while on a dinner date at her house. Jerry puts on an act and plays onto her motherly feelings by pretending that he's suddenly terrified of Tom to which Tootles responds by giving our top feline a sound leave-that-poor-little-mouse-alone styled smacking. Throughout the date Jerry keeps doing dastardly things to set-up Tom and get him clobbered by his girlfriend. Ah, but it isn't long before Jerry paints himself into a corner with his fake act and is soon running for dear life, much to Tom's joy.

Jones knew how both of these characters worked and used his knowledge to put out a fine batch of T and J shorts, this one among them. He realized that sometimes Tom Cat just needed to put that little jerk Jerry Mouse in his place. Love Me, Love My Mouse was one of those times. Another great Tom and Jerry cartoon for those of us who are Tom fans.

Tom offers Jerry as a gift to his girlfriend Toots, whose maternal instincts prevent her, and Tom, from causing the mouse any harm. Try as Tom might to turn the mouse into a meal, the female cat ensures that Jerry is safe—at least until her natural urges eventually kick in.

The basic set up for this cartoon is mediocre at best, and the gags are predictable, but what really made this one a pain for me were the horrible backgrounds, poorly rendered and incredibly garish, they reminded me of the last few Hanna-Barbera efforts where cost-cutting resulted in some nasty slapdash work.

The only laugh I had with the whole cartoon was at the end, when Toots kisses Jerry and realises just how tasty he is, but it's a case of too little, too late.

2.5 out of 10, rounded up to 3 for IMDb.

This episode is one of the bests from Chuck Jones era in my opinion! This episode is really good and funny in my opinion, this episode has a good animation and sountrack. This episode is a way better than 134th episode, 134th was too bad and bald in my opinion!

I would rate this as 10/10