Puss 'N' Boats

Jerry is relaxing in a hammock when he is lured by the aroma of a shipment of cheese. The only problem is that Tom the cat is on guard to ensure that no mice make off with the cargo.

Director Abe Levitow has another crack at a Tom and Jerry cartoon, but with no more success than his first attempt (the disappointing Jerry-Go-Round), Puss 'N' Boats suffering from some horrible drawing, and repetitive and not particularly amusing jokes.

Best moment: Tom crawling through a pipe that gets narrower and narrower, emerging as a stick-thin creature that looks like something out of a Dr.Seuss book. The worst moment comes when Levitow unwisely throws in a topical gag, Tom encountering an astronaut as he is launched sky-high by a high-pressure hose: with the spaceman rendered in an incongruous, semi-realistic style, this part really sticks out like a sore thumb.

Chuck Jones' Tom and Jerry output is inconsistent, there are some good ones(though none are up there with the classics) and there are disappointments(but not abominations like the offerings from Gene Deitch). Puss N Boats is neither among the hits or misses, it is decent and entertaining but falls short. The action is fun and enough to keep people interested, while the gags benefit from clever ideas that are executed as such. Tom and Jerry are still likable characters and work great together, and the support characters are decent without upstaging them. Puss N Boats does have some let downs though. The animation is not great, some of Jones' Tom and Jerry cartoons do look good but everything here just looks scratchy and dull. Composer Carl Brandt was a first-timer, and judging from the generic and rather pedestrian scoring, the lack of any action or humour enhancing and forgettable orchestration his inexperience really shows. The pacing is sometimes solid but does lag a little too much, and while the gags and ideas save it that doesn't stop the story from being routine. In conclusion, decent but does fall short. 6/10 Bethany Cox