Cats and Bruises

It's always fun to see Speedy outwit Sylvester, but by 1965 the Looney Tunes had long since passed their prime. In this case, the slobbering cat tries to ruin Cinco de Mayo but the quick mouse foils his plans. I noticed that in one scene Speedy sings "Cielito lindo", a traditional Mexican song whose title means "lovely sweet one" (appropriate for the scene in which Speedy sings it). Yes, Speedy Gonzales and Pepe Le Pew are the only Looney Tunes who consistently try to be romantic with women; Bugs, Daffy and the rest are rarely in relationships with anyone. Anyway, it's an OK cartoon but no match for Speedy's earlier work.

The idea of an American cat trying to keep Mexican mice away from cheese always comes across as an inadvertent representation of immigration issues.

Sylvester interrupts a mouse gathering and sets out to catch Speedy Gonzales. However he must devise several plans to try and match his speed and catch him.

I'm not a big fan of Speedy Gonzales. I always prefer the characters (or double acts) where their character is as much a part of them as their physical abilities. With Speedy I've always felt that a mock-Mexican accent and the ability to run fast does not a character make. We already have Road Runner that can do that and he works because his double act is so strong! As with many of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, the animation is the thing that gets me - just because the film is set in a poor Mexican town doesn't mean it should look so very bland and basic.

The animation here is not as bad as I've seen it but the backgrounds lack care and, unfortunately, this lack of attention to detail also carries over into Sylvester's animation and he looks pretty ropy at times. Even his voice sounds different and lacking in effort. Other than this, it does look better than it has in other Gonzales cartoons but it's far from WB's best efforts.

The jokes are OK but are basically just smaller scale version of Road Runner jokes. As such, Sylvester is nowhere near the tragic figure of the Coyote and Gonzales is a very very poor man's version of Road Runner. Where those benefited from exaggeration and imagination, this cartoon simply treads well worn paths to no great effect.

Overall this is an OK film if you like Gonzales. Fans of Sylvester will be upset to see and hear the shoddy word done on his animation and his character, but there are just about enough laughs here to justify the watching.

While not the worst Speedy cartoon, this one could have been better. Starting with the good things, Mel Blanc once again is great with the voices of Speedy and Sylvester who are adequate here. Also the music is pretty good, the story while standard ran fairly smoothly and there are funny dialogue and sight gags. But the animation was a major con to this otherwise decent cartoon. The backgrounds are lifeless and Sylvester is very badly animated here. The pacing was off as well, no real surprise seeing as most Speedy cartoons have very uneven pacing but still. Overall, Cats and Bruises is decent and there are some good laughs but the animation is very ropey and that alone makes what could have been very good to just borderline decent. 6/10 Bethany Cox