L'Ivresse de l'amitié

Sharp entry in the excellent "Tom and Jerry" series. Tom is chasing his rodent foe, falls in a barrel of alcohol, and you can guess the result. The gimmick here is that every time Tom gets soused, he sees Jerry as a friend. The unorthodox method in which the blotto feline removes a roast chicken from his arm is alone worth renting out a T&J compilation tape.

How many times has poor Tom been told, "This is the last time. Either you keep that mouse out of the icebox (or house, in most cartoons) or you are going out!?"

That's the word Tom gets early on from Mammy Two Shoes. (By the way, it's interesting how the politically-correct idiots to write the English subtitles on these DVDs always correct her grammar. For instance: real dialog - "Remember, Tom, you is on guard;" English subtitles: "Remember, Tom, you're on guard." They even change "Land sakes!" to "My goodness." Is there something racial about the exclamation "land sakes?" My grandmother used to say that all the time. These Gestapo-like PC police are ridiculous!)

Tom gets "picked" in this episode, falling in a barrel of cider. When he's in this condition, he's pals with everyone, including Jerry. He's a different cat! Some funny gags follow as Tom now helps Jerry raid the refrigerator. When the cat sobers up, however, it's back to normal.....until a bottle of "bay rum" hits him and he swallows the contents. Now, it's "part-time pals" again.

Overall, a decent cartoon. Usually, I don't find drunks funny but they had some good material in here.

As a big fan of Tom and Jerry, while not quite one of my favourites Part Time Pal is still an excellent cartoon. It is different to the usual fighting cat and mouse stuff, and it was nice to see a change. The idea to have Tom drunk and temporarily be pals to everybody, even Jerry, could have gone either way of being either funny or too silly. Luckily it was in the former category. The gags are sharp and funny, the best being Tom's encounter with the chicken carcass. Tom is the most hilarious I've ever seen him, while Jerry doesn't quite make as strong an impression he is a good contrast still. The animation is great, the colours are very lavish and the backgrounds fluid. The music is very lively and adds very much to the humour of the scenes. The pacing is crisp, and the story while occasionally a little routine is always entertaining. Overall, a hilarious cartoon that makes the most of a great concept. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Tom is given the task of guarding the fridge during the night by Mammy-Two-Shoes (NOT re-dubbed by the PC brigade in the version I saw, would you believe), but as soon as he has started he is tricked by Jerry into falling into the basement, where he lands in a barrel of cider. Obviously, everyone has a barrel of cider in their basement!

Now drunk, Tom staggers around in the house getting up to no good with Jerry, clearing out the fridge, making a mess, waking Mammy-Two-Shoes. You can tell this will only end in severe punishment, but Tom simply casts caution to the wind and gets even more drunk by downing a bottle of rum he finds in the bathroom. Obviously, everyone has a bottle of rum in their bathroom.

A mildly funny cartoon, nothing particularly amazing about it. Tom actually speaks in this one but no one is credited for his voice.

Tom accidentally falls in a barrel of cider, gets roaring drunk, befriends Jerry, and helps the rodent to raid the fridge, making a huge mess in the process. Narrowly avoiding getting into trouble with Mammy Two Shoes, the cat sobers up and resumes mousing duties, but ends up rat-arsed once more when he inadvertently downs a bottle of rum. Can the sozzled moggy avoid getting into trouble again? Of course not!!!

On paper, a drunken Thomas must've seemed like pretty funny stuff, but somehow the finished cartoon ends up as a fairly laugh-free effort, delivering unimaginative gags and sub standard action. Maybe the animators were saving the really good stuff for their next effort—the award winning 'The Cat Concerto'.