The Karate Guard

Karateguard was intended to be a comeback-short by the original creators of Tom and Jerry, namely Joseph Barbera, and William Hanna. It was written and directed by Joe Barbera himself (Since Mr Hanna passed away in 2001), with the help by Spike Brandt. Back to the old formula! Sounds great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, this cartoon just doesn't live up to the legacy of the original MGM theatrical series, made by Hanna-Barbera.

It's not a terribly bad film on it's own, it's just uninspired, unoriginal, surprisingly unfunny, and incoherent, compared to to the old series. However, the comparsion is inevitable, since it's been directed by one of the original creators, who's already proved his genius in animation. But not this time.

The story starts with Jerry, practicing Karate. Why? we don't know. There's not much build-up. Since it doesn't work out against tom, the spirit of his old master appears (who?), and gives him a magic gong, which summons a huge samurai dog. Pretty much the same stuff, as "The bodyguard", or "Fit to be tied". Only this way, there's no emotional connection between Jerry and his guard. He's stiff and distant, which is kind of funny, due to it's animation, but not very likable or interesting. There's also a segment, where they go into a toystore, and fly some toy-planes... Why not use only one or another? We've already seen whole episodes built up on each concept, and they worked out wonderfully.

But that's only one of the problems. The whole film has that very weird kind of pacing that many early 90's series had. It's fluid, it's followable, but has a few bumps, which ruin the rhythm (this has to be credited to Brandt). The problem with this, that it makes the jokes less funny. The timing is just not right with most of them. And even the jokes aren't that creative. There are just so many ways that dog could beat up Tom, and we only get a handful of them.

The colors are bizarre, again, they resemble something from the 90's, which is a huge step back, compared to the cozy, tasteful and elegant colors of the 40's and 50's. Same goes to the character design.

Camera movement seems to be senseless, and thoughtless sometimes. Where it doesn't wave to move, it shouldn't.

The music is okay, but still doesn't quite match up with the originals. All in all, a huge disappointment. Too bad, this was Joe Barberas swansong. It should've been spectacular, but instead it's unbearably mediocre and underwhelming.

I love the Karateguard. I think that this one cartoon is greatest piece of cinema ever! The KarateGuard is a new cartoon with the classic elements of the original tom and jerry's. Mr. Joe Barbera himself worked on this cartoon, the man who helped create the original cartoons! Also the brilliant genius's of the Duck Dodgers series have worked on this cartoon. You heard me right! The Awesome Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone put,no strike that, I mean poured their very souls and hearts into this seven minute masterpiece. You can definitely see Cervones influence in the cartoon from the gut-hacking action in this cartoon and Brandt's influence from the cackling escapade of Tom. There is quite a history of Brandt and Cervone really, I believe they met in a karate class in which they got the genius idea for this cartoon. As far as cinema influence goes you see some reference from the Karate Kid Movie 1 - 7, I think that its pretty obvious that spike in this particular cartoon was trained by Mr. Mieagy.Yes I would definitely recommend the KarateGuard if you miss both tom and jerry and the classic karate kid movies, it an awesome combination of both of them. Thank you so much for the KarateGuard!

Granted The Karate Guard is not as abominable as the Gene Deitch cartoons, which ideally I pretend that they don't exist, and it is an improvement over the previous "modern" Tom and Jerry cartoon The Mansion Cat. However, I even prefer the worst of the hit-and-miss Chuck Jones output, and The Karate Guard sure doesn't compare to the classic(a vast majority of them anyhow) cartoons of theirs of the 40s and 50s. The best thing about The Karate Guard is the music, it isn't the most catchy music in the world but it fits well with what is going on, is orchestrated well and is quite upbeat. It thankfully isn't bizarre or too much like a dirge. Unfortunately the rest didn't do anything for me. And that is including the animation quality, everything felt rushed and in-your-face, for instance the colours are bright but not with much depth while the backgrounds have little finesse and elegance. Apparently The Karate Guard got an Annie nomination for Best Character Design, a nomination that I am personally perplexed by. I wouldn't say they're terrible as such but there isn't anything that leaps out as distinctive or memorable(even Jones' output had Tom's interesting Grinch-like facial expressions), with little attempt to stick true to the style of the 40s-50s cartoons and the characters lacking expression or fluidity, Jerry especially is far too stiff even for his character. For example when there's any kind of fast movement it is so quick and jumpy that it's enough to give you an eyesore.

On top of that, the story seemed rather muddled. I don't mind so much that it was routine, that is common with quite a few cartoons and they still managed to be entertaining. What did matter far more though was that it felt like two or three different pre-existing cartoons or ideas mixed together but with not much originality or coherence. The pacing wasn't so bad actually, most of it was solid and moved quickly, but it wasn't always consistent, there was a few lulls that slowed The Karate Guard down and quite badly. And nothing here is particularly funny. The gags are not that many, so if you're wanting laugh-a-minute quality you're watching the wrong cartoon, and what there is is not very inventive, well-timed or interesting. I don't think I ever really raised a smile or laughed, and this is coming from someone who has loved Tom and Jerry since forever and nearly always finds much entertainment in them. The two characters don't look or act the same and have no chemistry together, Tom and Jerry as characters are timeless as is their chemistry but due to the material they don't shine at all. The voice acting is okay but wasn't needed in my opinion. So in conclusion better than Gene Deitch's cartoons and The Mansion Cat, but a very underwhelming swan-song(for Joseph Barbera and Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts). 3/10 Bethany Cox